Abstract: In this study,DMF was adopted as reaction medium for the first time in the synthesis of berberrubine under microwave irradiation.The effect of reaction power,solid-liquid ratio and reaction time on yield of berberrubine was studied using single factor tests.After crystallization and purification,the purity and structure of berberrubine was tested by HPLC,UV,IR,ESI-MS,¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR.The optimal synthetic conditions were determined to be:microwave power 400 W, microwave time 15 min,berberine/DMF ratio 1:25 (g:mL).The yield was up to 93% under the optimized experimental conditions and the purity of berberrubine after purification was as high as 98%.Compared with traditional method of synthesizing berberrubine by vacuum pyrolysis,the yield of berberrubine under microwave irradiation was increased by nearly 15% while the reaction time was shortened by 4 times.In addition,the purification process was economic and simple.

Key words: berberrubine, microwave, synthesis, berberine, vacuum pyrolysis