EXTRACTION OF CEPHALOSPORIN-C FROM WHOLE BROTH AND SEPARATION OF DESACETYL CEPHALOSPORIN-C BY AQUEOUS 2-PHASE PARTITION

Cephalosporin C was extracted from diluted or whole broth by PEG/salt aqueous two-phase systems. Parameters such as PEG molecular weight, salt type, pH, and salt concentration were investigated for finding a suitable extraction system. In PEG 600/ammoninum sulfate or phosphate systems, K-c (partition coefficient of cephalosporin C) was observed to be larger than 1, with K-d (partition coefficient of desacetyl cephalosporin C) being smaller than 1. The particular values of these coefficients would imply that the difficult separation of cephalosporin C and desacetyl cephalosporin C could possibly be achieved via the aqueous two-phase extraction. The addition of surfactants, water-miscible solvents, and neutral salts for enhancement of the separation efficiency was also investigated. The addition of surfactants to the system did not affect the separation efficiency substantially. K-c would increase whereas K-d decreased as a result of the addition of acetone, MeOH, EtOH, IPA, and n-BuOH. Meanwhile both K-c and K-d would decrease whenever neutral salts, NaCl, KCI, Kl, or KSCN, were added. The partitioning behavior of cephalosporin C and desacetyl cephalosporin C in filtered, whole, and different batches of broth was notably quite similar to that of diluted broth. The recovery yield of cephalosporin C in whole broth extraction was observed to be a function of centrifugal force used in phase separation. (C) 1994 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.