In the present study, a simple and efficient method for the preparative separation of 3-CQA from the
extract of Helianthus tuberosus leaves with macroporous resins was studied. ADS-21 showed much higher
adsorption capacity and better adsorption/desorption properties for 3-CQA among the tested resins. The
adsorption of 3-CQA on ADS-21 resin at 25 C was fitted best to the Langmuir isotherm model and
pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Dynamic adsorption/desorption experiments were carried out in a
glass column packed with ADS-21 to optimise the separation process of 3-CQA from H. tuberosus leaves
extract. After one treatment with ADS-21, the content of 3-CQA in the product was increased 5.42-fold,
from 12.0% to 65.2%, with a recovery yield of 89.4%. The results demonstrated that the method was
suitable for large-scale separation and manufacture of 3-CQA from H. tuberosus leaves.