LAUSR

Abstract Membrane separation technology was tried to remove the ginkgotoxin (4′-O-methylpyridoxine and 4′-O-methylpyridoxine-5′-glucoside) from Ginkgo seeds powder for the first time in this work. 99.88 ± 0.99% of the ginkgotoxin could transfer to the extraction solvent from the Ginkgo seeds powder when the water was used as the extraction solvent for extracting twice at 25 °C and solid to solvent ratio of 1:40 (g/mL) for 20 min. The conditions of ginkgotoxin removal by membrane separation were next studied as: ultrafiltration membrane with cut-off molecular weight of 10000 Da was operated at 0.2–0.3 MPa with a permeate volume of 4.7 L, and nanofiltration membrane with cut-off molecular weight of 600 Da was operated at 0.4–0.5 MPa with a permeate volume of 3.0 L. All the ginkgotoxin could be removed under the selected membrane operation conditions. The main nutritional and functional components of Ginkgo seeds powder were well preserved after detoxification. The main characteristics or structure of the detoxified Ginkgo seeds powder were not obviously changed. The membrane separation technology could be used as an effective method for removing ginkgotoxin from Ginkgo seeds powder.