Patent ID: 6888014

Claim:
A process of preparing a sapogenin according to the formula: wherein R 1 is H or glc, R 2 is H or OH, R 3 is H or OH; and when R 1 , R 2 , and R 3 are H, there are double bonds at positions 20(21) and 24(25); and when R 1 is H, R 2 , is OH and R 3 is OH, there are double bonds at positions 20(22) and 25(26); and when R 1 is glc, R 2 is H and R 3 is H, there are double bonds at positions 20(21) and 24(25); which process comprises: producing a ginsenoside extract from plants selected from the group consisting of panax ginseng, panax quinguefol and panax notoginseng, or a sapogenin source from some other plant, and proceeding according to the following steps: (a) mixing the ginsenoside extract with water; (b) (i) mixing the ginsenoside extract and water with a short-chain (1-5 carbon) alkali-metal alcoholate solution or a hydroxide-ethanol solution to produce a mixture; and (ii) placing the resultant mixture in a reaction tank so that the resultant mixture can undergo chemical reactions under high temperature and high pressure effective to produce sapogenins therefrom; or (c) (i) alternatively, mixing the ginsenosides extract with ethanol; (ii) mixing the extract and ethanol with alkali-metal alcoholates solution to produce a mixture, and (iii) placing the resultant mixture in a reaction tank so that the resultant mixture can undergo chemical reactions under high temperature and high pressure effective to produce sapogenins therefrom; (d) after the reaction is completed, collecting an intermediate product of a mix of gensenosides and sapogenins from the ethanol mixture; and (e) separating the desired sapogenins from the intermediate saponin-sapogenin mixture by silica-gel-column chromatography.