Abstract: OBJECTIVE To provide a theoretical basis for development and ulitization of the total alkaloids of Scutellaria barbata D.Don by optimizing the best extraction and purification process. METHODS The concentration of extracting solvent, ratio of solid-to-liquid, temperature, extraction times were investigated and the L₉(3⁴) orthogonal test was adopted to optimize the process. By the static and dynamic adsorption experiments, six types of macroporous adsorption resins(D101, HPD100, HPD400, HPD500, HPD600, AB-8) were evaluated to find the optimum one in purificating efficiency with measuring the adsorption and eluting ratio of the total alkaloids as indexes and used berberine hydrochloride as a comparison, methanol-hydrochloride(100∶1) for the reagent to determine the content of the total alkaloids of Scutellaria barbata D.Don. RESULTS The results showed that 1% sulfuric acid solution as extracting solvent, ratio of solid-to-liquid was 1∶12, temperature was 70 ℃ and extracting three times and 1 hour every time were optimal. The HPD100 macroporous adsorption resin provided the optimal adsorption and elution parameters. The best adsorption capacity was achieved with the following condition the concentration of extract liquid was 1.015 7 g·mL^-1, pH 3.0-4.0，then the resin was washed by 3.7 BV water to remove impurity and alkaloids were desorbed by 3.5 BV 45% ethanol. CONCLUSION The process is simple, feasible and has a good prospect.