Abstract:

A reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (RP-HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS) method was established for qualitative identification and quantitative determination of lutein in Enteromorpha prolifera. Lutein was extracted from Enteromorpha prolifera through ultrasound-assisted extraction, and then analyzed by RP-HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS. HPLC was carried out at the conditions of Eclipse XDB-C18 (4.6 mm × 150mm) column, MeOH-0.2% acetic acid-water (V/V) as the mobile phase with linear gradient elution and detection wavelength of 450 nm. Results indicated that the developed method could be used for the determination of lutein in Enteromorpha prolifera with a good resolution and linear relationship in the range from 0.10 to 20.0 mg/L (R2 = 0.9994). Molecular weight of lutein was rapidly evaluated by ESI-MS detection. Combined with literature information, lutein in Enteromorpha prolifera could be rapidly identified. This developed method is specific, simple, fast, sensitive and feasible for rapid identification and quantification of lutein, which can eliminate the interference of other pigments and derivatives from Enteromorpha prolifera.

Key words: Enteromorpha prolifera, lutein, HPLC-ESI-MS