Abstract: In this study policosanol was prepared from insect wax. The optimized condition is:4 g alkali was added into 10 g of wax, kept at 90℃ for 10 h for saponification, half mol of CaCl₂ (according to the amount of alkali ) was added, stirred for 2 h at 80℃, then filtered with ethanol at reduced presure and dried. The filtrate was extracted with ethanol,then recrystallized the crude policosanol from ethanol-acetone mixture for 3 times and dried at 70℃, to obtain policosanol of 93% purity.

Key words: insect wax, higher fatty alcohols, sapolificationn