INDUSTRIAL HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY PURIFICATION OF DOCOSAHEXAENOIC ACID ETHYL-ESTER AND DOCOSAPENTAENOIC ACID ETHYL-ESTER FROM SINGLE-CELL OIL

The use of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) as medicine or in functi onal diets requires high purity. An industrial purification method for PUFA from Schizochytrium sp. SR21 oil was investigated. This oil cont ains fewer unwanted components than fish oils. Docosahexaenoic acid an d docosapentaenoic acid ethyl esters (DHA-E and DPA-F) were prepared b y treatment of this oil with ethanol and 1 N potassium hydroxide in he xane. DHA-E and DPA-E were purified by an industrial high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) plant. The separation plant consists of t wo columns (400 mm i.d., 1,000 mmL) with temperature-controlled water jackets and double-plunger (four heads) injection and eluent pumps. Th is plant was computer-controlled and equipped with an explosion-preven tion system. The packed material was octadecylsilica (reverse-phase OD S), and the eluent was methyl alcohol/water (98:2). DHA-E and DPA-E fr om single-cell oil were highly purified by this industrial HPLC method in a onestep process. The DHA-E and DPA-E obtained were better than 9 9% purity.