The Use of High Performance Liquid Chromatography for the Studies of Pigment Components from Serratia Marcescens 08 Before and After Hydrogen Peroxide Oxidation

Abstract

A method to separate the pigment components of Serratia marcescens 08 by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is described. By maintaining a small but constant amount of concentrated HCI in the mobile phase of 25% ethylene dichloride in methanol on a reverse-phase column (Lichrosorb RP-18), the pigment components were resolved and separated in about 5 min. This method allowed preparative isolation of the individual components for infrared spectroscopic characterization. The interrelationship of the components studied by hydrogen peroxide oxidation of the pigment extract and the HPLC profiles and infrared spectra of the oxidized products as well as those of the individual isolated fractions were investigated. It is suggested that components separated by this method and detected at 272 nm might be related to the parent pigment of prodigiosin.