Rapid purification of gram quantities of β-sitosterol from a commercial phytosterol mixture

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. FINDINGS: 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. CONCLUSION: The rapid and cost effective three-step purification described here afforded β-sitosterol in gram quantities with high purity (>92%) and yield (>22%).