The studies on the carotenoids in the viscera of abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) have bee carried out. The pigments were extracted with acetone-methanol mixture (4 : 1) from the viscera of abalones which were caught around the coastal water of Korea from March to August.
The individual carotenoid in the extracts was separated and purified by the silica gel TLC, Mg(OH)₂ impregnated paper chromatography and Mg₂(OH)₂CO₃ TLC. The isolated eleven carotenoids were. investigated and identified by epoxide test, partition test, reduction with sodium borohydride, alkaline hydrolysis, co-chromatography and comparative test with reference carotenoids and electronic and IR absorption spectrophotometry.
α-Carotene, β-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin, siponaxanthin, siponein, fucoxanthin, loroxan-thin-like and fucoxanthinol-like have been identified among the eleven carotenoids isolated. It has been found that fucoxanthin, on alkaline treatment, was transformed to the product of which chromophore was the same one as fucochrome and semifucoxanthol. Among the identified nein carotenoids siphenaxanthin, siponein, fucoxanthin, loroxanthin-like and fucoxanthinol-like have not been reported previously to be contained in the shellfish.
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