Abstract: In order to develop a purification procedure for solanesol from tobacco extract without column chromatography,the effects of the dosage of NaOH and alcohol in saponification,saponification time,dewaxing solvent,crystallization solvent and crystallization time on the extraction and purification of solanesol were investigated.The determined optimum procedure was:tobacco extract in anhydrous alcohol was saponified at 65℃ for 4 hours at the presence of 4%NaOH(mass/mass),then neutralized with concentrated hydrochloric acid,filtrated for dewaxing,crystallized in methanol at-18℃ for 6 hours twice and recrystallized in acetoniJP3trile twice.5.1 g of white solid(solanesol concentration 90.5%,mp 41.5℃)was obtained from 50 g tobacco extract containing 7.4% of solanesol by the procedure.This procedure could be used to isolate solanesol from tobacco extract.