Abstract: Phospholipids extraction from the heads of Penaeus vannamei with a mixture of n-hexane and isopropyl alcohol was optimized by an orthogonal array design based on one-factor-at-a-time experiments. The extraction efficiency of phospholipids was investigated with respect to four process conditions including n-hexane/isopropyl alcohol volume ratio, material/liquid ratio, extraction time and temperature. The optimal values of the process conditions were determined to be 3:1, 1:8, 2 h and 40 ℃, respectively. Under these conditions, the extraction efficiency of phospholipids was 98.11% as calculated relative to the one obtained by the classic chloroform-methanol method. The insoluble residues of the phospholipids obtained by the optimized method in acetone and ether were 85.4% and 0.2%, respectively. Both indices exceeded the standard grade Ⅰof concentrated phospholipids. Five phospholipids were separated and characterized by thin-layer chromatography, including phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylserine (PS), sphingomyelin (SM) and an unknown compound. This study demonstrates that the hexane-isopropyl alcohol extraction method is safe and effective and provides a new method to extract phospholipids from Penaeus vannamei head and made full use of waste resources.

Key words: phospholipid, Penaeus vannamei, mixed solvents, insoluble residue in acetone, insoluble residue in ether, thin-layer chromatography