An efficient continuous system for separation of pinostrobin from pigeon pea leaf extract using a cation exchange resin column (fixed-bed column reactor) connected to a polyamide resin column (fixed-bed column separator) was developed in this study. An NKC-9 cation exchange resin, with a styrene divinyl benzene matrix and -SO3- functional groups, was used as a catalyst to transform pinostrobin chalcone into piostrobin, with a dynamic transformation efficiency of 97.67 +/- 1.82%. A polyamide resin column was used to adsorb pinostrobin from the pigeon pea leaf extract solution after the transformation reaction, and the most optimal condition was identified. After adsorption equilibrium, 30-70% ethanol was injected into the polyamide resin column as a desorption solvent, from which 50-70% ethanol eluates were collected as the final product and 30-40% ethanol was used to wash out impurities. This system greatly improved production, yielding a 24.67-fold increase in pinostrobin content in the dry product from 2.32 +/- 0.16% to 57.23 +/- 1.18%, and a final recovery of pinostrobin of 151.12 +/- 1.53%. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.