SPECTRAL CHARACTERIZATION OF NEW CHLOROPHYLL-C PIGMENTS ISOLATED FROMEMILIANIA-HUXLEYI (PRYMNESIOPHYCEAE) BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

Pigment extracts from the prymnesiophyte Emiliania huxleyi (Lohm.) Hay & Mohler (CCMP 370) were analyzed using a new chromatographic method based on the use of polymeric octadecylsilica columns, which split bot h the chlorophyll c(3) peak and phytol-substituted chlorophyll c-like peak into two fractions. The pigments corresponding to each of these f ractions were isolated. The spectra and chromatographic behavior sugge st that chlorophyll c(3) from E. huxleyi is a mixture of two different compounds whereas the splitting of the phytol-substitute c-like pigme nt could be the result of the equilibrium of two forms showing the sam e absorption spectrum. The method allowed, as well, the detection of m agnesium 3,8-divinylpheoporphyrin a(5) monomethyl ester in the prymnes iophytes E. huxleyi (CCMP 370) and Prymnesium parvum Carter (CCMP 708) and the chrysophyte Pelagococcus subviridis Norris (CCMP 1429).