Separation and Determination of Carotenoids in Fructus Lycii by Isocratic Non Aqueous Reversed Phase Liquid Chromatography
非水反相高效液相色谱法分离测定枸杞子中的类胡萝卜素

High performance liquid chromatography using a non-aqueous reversed phase with isocratic elution of C18 columns is a powerful tool for investigating the carotenoid composition of Fructus Lycii. This paper compared the effect of different eluents on the separation of carotenoids. An optimum solvent system consisting of acetonitrile and methylene chloride is suitable for simultaneous separation of compounds from polar xanthophylls to nonpolar carotenoid esters. Ten carotenoids were separated from Fructus Lycii by using Shim-pack CLC-ODS column(150 mm x 6 mm i.d.) and mobile phase of acetonitrile/methylene chloride(60:42, V/V) with a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The eluates were monitored with UV/VIS detector at 456 nm. The method which permit direct analysis of carotenoid extracts without saponification in 30 min provides a true information of carotenoids composition in Fructus Lycii as they exist. Fructus Lycii contains 2952 micrograms/g of total carotenoids, but 98.6% of carotenoids are existed as esterified forms, zeaxanthin dipalmitate are accounted for 77.5% of the total carotenoide.