RESUMEN
Objective: To solve the technical bottleneck in the application of membrane technology in pharmaceutical industry and to establish a fast and feasible method for evaluating molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of ultrafiltration membrane. Methods: Based on works, Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS), R1, Rg1, Rb1, and Rd, were selected as indexes for filtering with series ultrafiltration membranes, the retention rate of PNS was accumulated and analyzed with different MWCOs (1×103-1 × 105). Results: The relevant equations were fitted by linear and exponential function, the regression coefficients of equations between the retention rates of PNS and MWCOs were bigger than 0.98. Then, the equations were applied for calculating the different MWCOs of being-measured ultrafiltration membranes. Conclusion: Preliminary judgment is obtained by comparison analysis of cumulative retention rate, and then the optimal MWCO under tested membranes is calculated by subsection equations. This research results have provided a simple and rapid method of evaluating the membrane MWCOs for pharmaceutical industries.