Porownanie technik chromatograficznego oczyszczania likopenu

Chromatografia kolumnowa na żelu krzemionkowym z eterem etylowym jako fazą ruchomą pozwala oczyszczać ekstrakt surowego likopenu w stopniu zbliżonym do metody ekstrakcji do fazy stałej (SPE). Ekstrakt oczyszczony tą metodą może być wykorzystywany do badan modelowych lub do dalszego oczyszczenia na semipreparatywnej kolumnie HPLC.

Extracts of lycopene were obtained from the tomato paste using petroleum ether. They were then purified by solid phase extraction (SPE) and silica gel column chromatography using two mobile phases: diethyl ether and petroleum ether (first step) and chloroform (second step). Crude extract of lycopene and extracts purified by chromatographic techniques were examined by HPLC and UV-VIS spectroscopy. The results show silica gel column chromatography with diethyl ether as the mobile phase offers similar quality of purification to that of SPE. Silica gel column chromatography with two-step elution system did not give satisfactory results. We recommend the column chromatography with mobile phase of diethyl ether as a cheap and good method able to ensure high purity lycopene useful for the model studies or for further final purification using a semi-preparative HPLC column.