Thiophenes of Tagetes Flowers and Partial Purification of Xanthophyll Esters

Lutein is a health promoting xanthophyll that may be extracted from marigold flowers. But the plant is known also for biosynthesis of phototoxic polythiophenes. Extracts of flowers of some Tagetes species grown in Belgorod (RF) T. erecta L. (cv. Gavaii) , T. patula L. (cv. Petit orange), T. tenuifolia Cav. (unknown cv.), and T. lucida Cav. were investigated by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high-performance chromatography (HPLC) with diode-array (DAD) and mass spectomertic detector (MS). It has been found that C13 bithienyl (instead of C12-derivatives being common for hairy roots) was a major thiophene derivative of all extracts under investigation, and that thiophenes are accumulated mainly in the parts of flowers hidden from sunlight by a flower’s sepals. Therefore two methods of petal preparation for lutein diesters extraction were investigated. It has been shown that solid phase extraction on silica is a simple way for lutein diesters purification from thiophenes.