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A NEW HPLC METHOD FOR SEPARATION OF PHYTOPLANKTON PIGMENTS IN NATURAL SAMPLES
Citation:
Santos, A. F. A NEW HPLC METHOD FOR SEPARATION OF PHYTOPLANKTON PIGMENTS IN NATURAL SAMPLES. Presented at Estuarine Research Federation 16th Biennial Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, November 4-8, 2001.
Description:
A new high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed to analyze, in a single run, most polar and non-polar chlorophylls and carotenoids from marine phytoplankton. The method is based on a reverse-phase amide C16 (RP-amide C16) column and an elution gradient of methanol, acetonitrile, acetone and ammonium acetate. Under the gradient conditions employed, the RP-amide C16 column provides excellent peak resolution and different elution profiles of the separated pigments compared to RP-CI8 and RP-C8 phases. Analysis of mixed pigment standards, extracts of phytoplankton mono cultures and field samples show that this method is able to resolve more than forty pigments, ranging from the very polar acidic chlorophylls to the non-polar hydrocarbon carotenes, in less than thirty five minutes. The described method is rapid and reproducible and could be used for accurate separation, identification and quantification of phytoplankton pigments in marine environments.