title: Rapid purification of gram quantities of β-sitosterol from a commercial phytosterol mixture.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  β-Sitosterol, a plant sterol or phytosterol, has commercial uses in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries, but is also employed frequently in biological research. Phytosterols always accumulate as mixtures, and obtaining highly pure β-sitosterol in larger quantities for biological assays has been a challenge.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An improved method for the rapid purification of β-sitosterol from a commercial phytosterol extract is presented. Fractional crystallization of soybean oil yielded a soluble and an insoluble fraction. β-Sitosterol was purified by silica gel and Na-Y zeolite chromatography.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The rapid and cost effective three-step purification described here afforded β-sitosterol in gram quantities with high purity (>92%) and yield (>22%).
authors.forename: Narayanan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Srividya
authors.forename: Deanna Brooke
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Heidorn
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Chemistry and M,J, Murdock Metabolomics Laboratory, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA. lange-m@wsu.edu.
authors.forename: Bernd Markus
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Lange
mesh_terms: D002845:Chromatography / Q000379:methods; D003460:Crystallization; D058428:Silica Gel; D012855:Sitosterols / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012995:Solubility; D013024:Soybean Oil / Q000737:chemistry*; D017641:Zeolites
chemical_list: D012855:Sitosterols; D017641:Zeolites; C025473:gamma-sitosterol; D058428:Silica Gel; D013024:Soybean Oil