Paper-chromatographic separation of chlorophylls and carotenoids from marine algae

Abstract

Although many methods have been described for the partial separation of chloroplast pigments by paper chromatography (see review by Sestak, 1958) the species examined have been mainly higher plants and algae of the class Chlorophyceae, in which the main chloroplast pigments are chloro- phylls a and b, with p-carotene and lutein as the major carotenoids. In the present work, a method was required for studying the pigment composition of planktonic algae which occur in the oceanic waters off Sydney. Representatives are found not only of the Chlorophyceae but also of the Bacil- lariophyceae, Dinophyceae and Chrysophyceae, and one would expect to find chlorophylls a, b and c together with a wide range of carotenoids The method described below, which is a modification of the two-dimensional method of Lind, Lane & Gleason (1953), has enabled studies of the pigment composition of such diverse algal groups to be made, since it provides a complete separation of mixtures of chlorophylls a, b and c, carotenes and the xanthophylls lutein, violaxan- thin, neoxanthin, fucoxanthin, peridinin and astaxanthin, as well as a number of xanthophyll pigments which occur in relatively small quantities.