Recovery of arbutin in high purity from fruit peels of pear (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai)

β-Arbutin is one of the most abundant compounds in pear fruit and has been widely used as a whitening agent in cosmetic products. In this study, a simple method for the purification and isolation of arbutin in high purity from the fruit peel of a pear (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai cv. Chuhwangbae) was developed. The high extraction efficiency of arbutin was accomplished with 80% ethanol under acidic conditions (pH 3.0). In the partition between water and ethyl acetate, almost all of the arbutin (78%) was detected in the water layer. Therefore, arbutin was further purified and isolated from the water layer using Diaion HP-20 column chromatography and preparative HPLC. The isolated arbutin represented a 60% recovery with a purity exceeding 99%.