Separation, identification and quantification of photosynthetic pigments from three Red Sea seaweeds using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

Thirty one photosynthetic pigments (chlorophylls, carotenoids and degradation products) from the seaweeds, Codium dwarkense, (Chlorophyta), , Laurencia obtusa , (Rhodophyta) and , Lobophora variegata, (Phaeophyta), were separated in a single-step procedure by reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography. An elution gradient of methanol, acetone and ammonium acetate solution, and a program time of 65 min, was used to obtain high resolution peaks. Eighteen photosynthetic pigments were separated from C. dwarkense, sixteen from L. obtusa and fourteen from L. variegata. Chlorophyll b, micronone, microxanthin, neoxanthin, siphonein and siphonoxanthin were the most typical and characteristic pigments of C. dwarkense, while chlorophyll c1, c2, fucoxanthin, fucoxanthol, flavoxanthin, diatoxanthin were the most typical pigments in L. variegata. In L. obtusa, chlorophyll d, α-cryptoxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin and fucoxanthin were the most abundant pigments.


KEY WORDS: Codium dwarkense, Laurencia obtuse, Lobophora variegata, Chlorophylls, Carotenoids, HPLC


Egyptian Journal of Biology Vol.4 2002: 1-6