Isolation of High‐Purity Rutin and Quercetin From Tartary Buckwheat By‐Products Using HPLC Separation and MS Quality Control

ABSTRACT

Tartary buckwheat ( Fagopyrum tataricum ) is a nutrient‐rich cereal abundant in flavonoids, including rutin, with excellent antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, and other health‐promoting properties. Cultivated for its grain‐like seed, the vegetative tissues of buckwheat are considered feedstock or agricultural waste. In this study, we found that the rutin content in vegetative tissues such as leaves and stems is significantly higher than that in grains and seed hulls. A simple and efficient extraction approach was developed to extract rutin from Tartary buckwheat leaves via a mass spectrometry‐directed procedure. The purified rutin yield was 67.85 mg/g with a purity exceeding 98%. The subsequent one‐step hydrolysis produced quercetin with a purity above 99.5% and a yield of 49.25%. Compared with other plant materials and published extraction methods, this strategy features shorter operation time, mild conditions, higher purity, and maximizes the use of Tartary buckwheat leaf waste. This study provides a green, efficient, and feasible scheme for the large‐scale preparation of high‐purity phytochemicals from waste materials produced from agricultural operations.