Purification of arachidonic acid from fungal single-cell oil via Al2O3-supported CuSO4 column chromatography

摘要

A new method has been proven successful to obtain high-purity arachidonic acid (AA), an important human nutrient, from fungal single-cell oil via Al2O3-supported CuSO4 column chromatography; the stationary phase is stable and readily reusable. In the first step, the mixed FA extracted from saponified fungal single-cell oil, containing 47.3% AA, were purified via urea inclusion to afford a fraction of PUFA containing 74.9% AA with an 85.9% yield. The enriched AA fraction was subsequently passed through an Al2O3-supported CuSO4 column with a hexane/acetone eluent to provide AA with 90.8% purity at a 46.5% yield. The total yield for the two-step process was 39.9%.