A method for obtaining plastid pigments from the biomass of Chlorella microalgae

Microalgae are distinguished from land plants by the high content of plastid pigmentsand the biodiversity of carotenoids. The aim of this study is to develop a technology for extractinga pigment complex from the biomass of the microalgae of the genus Chlorella and to determinethe extracted pigments’ composition. To obtain biomass, a crude cell suspension of microalgaewas used, which was obtained under laboratory conditions for pre-culture cultivation ofC. sorokiniana (strain 211-8k). The extraction of plastid pigments from air-dry biomass afterdisintegration of cell membrane was performed in the 40 kHz mode. It was found that the highestpigment content in ethanol extracts was observed after 30 min (870.0 ± 27.1 mg L-1) at 45−50 °C.The pigments’ composition in the resulting total extracts was determined by spectrophotometryand the Reverse Phase HPLC method. The established content of chlorophyll a in the obtainedextracts was 537.5 ± 10.0 mg L-1, the content of chlorophyll b was 182.5 ± 27.5 mg L-1; themaximum output of the amount of carotenoids in extracts was 150.0 ± 10.0 mg L-1. Thus, themain identified forms of carotenoids in extracts from the biomass of microalgae C. sorokinianawere xanthophylls: lutein and fucoxanthin (18.6 and 4.7% of the amount of pigment in extract,respectively) and β-carotene (1.8% of the amount of pigment). It is planned to further fractionatethe obtained total extracts of the pigment complex to obtain various forms of chlorophylls andcarotenoids to study the spectrum of physiological activity of plastid pigments.