Purification of Astaxanthin from Laminaria japonica by Ionic Liquid-based Monolithic Cartridge

An effective and accurate method was developed for the extraction of astaxanthin from Laminaria japonica with subsequent separation by ionic liquid-based monolithic cartridge.The optimized extraction conditions including extraction solvent(ethanol),extraction time(90 min) and ultrasonic power(75 W) were obtained by systematical investigation.Chromatographic analysis was performed on a C 18 column with ultraviolet(UV) detection at 476 nm,and a solution consisting of methanol/acetonitrile/H 2 O/dichloromethane(83:6:6:5,volume ratio) was used as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.7 mL/min.After ionic liquid-based monolithic solid phase extraction,17.82 μg/g astaxanthin was obtained from Laminaria japonica.This ionic liquid-based monolithic cartridge exhibits high affinity and selectivity for astaxanthin,and it can be potentially used as the stationary phase of high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC).