Abstract: Puerarin, an isoflavone compound, is an important ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, which has the good medical effects on hypertension and angina. A new type of separation and purification method for isolating puerarin was developed using chelate complex chromatography. The stationary phase was prepared with silica gel containing 7% of Cu(OAc)2 in the chloroform. After the chloroform was evaporated, it was used as chelate complex chromatographic stationary phase to purify puerarin extractive. Pure puerarin was obtained when a mixture of chloroform and methanol (10∶1, v/v) was used as eluent. In comparison with a common silica gel column, the chelate complex chromatographic column was more convenient and efficient. The purity and recovery of puerarin, and column capacity were improved 11%, 12% and 200%, respectively. Under the optimized experimental conditions， the purity of puerarin could be as high as 93％with a recovery of 92%.

Key words: copper ion, isolation and purification, puerarin, puerarin extractive , chelate complex chromatography