OBJECTIVE： To establish the separation and purification technology of sanguinarine from the extract of Macleaya cordata with ion exchang resin. METHODS： The content of sanguinarine from the extract of M. cordata was determined by HPLC， with  Cosmosil C18-R-Ⅱ column （250 mm×4.6 mm，5 μm）， mobile phase of acetonitrile-0.2％ acetic acid solution （25 ∶ 75，V/V）， the flow rate of 1 mL/min， detection wavelength of 270 nm， column temperature of 30 ℃， and sample size of 20 μL. Static adsorption and desorption tests were carried out to compare the adsorption and desorption properties of 8 ion exchange resins for sanguinarine. The optimum concentration of sample solution， pH value and volume of sample were investigated by optimum ion exchange resin. APPS 10D liquid phase preparation system was used to investigate the dynamic elution conditions and obtain M. cordata refined extract solution. The refined purified product of M. cordata was obtained by desalination， elution on a reversed-phase （RP） C18 column and drying.  The purity of the purified product was analyzed by HPLC. The structure of the purified product was confirmed by HPLC， UV spectrophotometry， MS and NMR. RESULTS： CM-FF resin was screened for the separation and purification of sanguinarine from M. cordata extract. It was eluted with 20 mmol/L ammonium acetate solution 100 mL containing 20％ methanol and 0.25 mol/L sodium chloride. The optimal dynamic absorption condition included that the concentration of sample was 6.0 mg/mL at pH 5.0，and the loading amount was 25 mL； after desalination and refinement， for the eluted refined extract， the purified product with 97％ purity （purified yield  of 71％） was obtained， and its structure was confirmed to be sanguinarine. CONCLUSIONS： The optimal separation and purification technology by ion exchange resin is green， safe， efficient and easy to operate， which can be used for the separation and purification of sanguinarine from M. cordata extract and is suitable for industrial production.