Co-extraction of azadirachtin and neem oil

摘要

Disclosed is an improved method of extracting neem seeds. The method involves co-solvent extracting neem seeds with a solvent mixture of a nonpolar, aliphatic hydrocarbon solvent and a polar solvent to simultaneously remove the hydrophilic and hydrophobic extracts from the neem seeds. The method provides novel neem extract mixtures which contain both the hydrophobic and hydrophilic portion Of the neem seeds. The extract mixtures may be further extracted to yield an azadirachtin-containing solid product having greater than 10 weight percent of azadirachtin.