Development of a semi-preparative carbon-30 HPLC column for carotenoids separation

Carotenoids are a group of antioxidant compounds that are naturally found in many plants and microorganisms. Due to their antioxidant properties, carotenoids have many pharmaceutical applications. Carotenoids also have industrial and commercial production value as they are often used as nutrient supplements and food colorants.;In this study a semi-preparative C30 HPLC column was developed to separate the carotenoids beta-carotene, lycopene, and lutein. The development process consisted of synthesizing the HPLC column's stationary phase, characterization of the stationary phase, packing the stationary phase, and evaluating the efficiency of the column.;Characterization of the stationary phase with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and FTIR indicated successful synthesis of the packing material. The semi-preparative column was tested with reverse phase and normal phase runs. Separation of the three compounds was achieved in the normal phase.