Quantification of astaxanthin in salmons by chemiluminescence and absorption after TLC separation

Astaxanthin is a keto-carotenoid, belongs to the chemical class of terpenes and is a yellow lipid soluble compound. The compound is present in marine animals like salmons and crustacean. Its colour is due to conjugated double bonds and these double bonds are responsible for its antioxidant effect. Its antioxidant activity is ten times stronger than other carotenoids and nearly 500 fold stronger than vitamin-E. We present a new thin layer chromatography (TLC) method to measure astaxanthin on TLC-plates (Merck, 1.05554) in the visible absorption range as well as by using chemiluminescence. For separation a solvent mixture of cyclohexane and acetone (10+2.4, v/v) was used. The RF-value of astaxanthin is 0.14.The limit of detection in vis-absorption is 64ng / band and the limit of quantification is 92ng/band. In chemiluminescence the values are 90ng / band and 115ng/band. The method offers two independently working measurement modes on a single plate which increase the accuracy of the quantification. [GRAPHICS] .