Non-Aqueous Reversed-Phase LC Separation of Hydrocarbons from Botryococcus braunii Alga

Botryococcus braunii is a unique alga because of its ability to produce significant quantities of C27 to C31 unsaturated hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons, produced during the green growth stage of this alga, were separated by nonaqueous reversed-phase liquid chromatography. Two mobile phases were compared for the separation of this material. Dichloromethane-acetonitrile mobile phase appeared to produce the largest shift in retention per double bond in terms of methylene units and provided better resolution of Botryococcus hydrocarbons compared to acetone-methanol. While providing lower resolution compared to capillary gas chromatography, the liquid chromatographic separation has the advantage of allowing the isolation of individual components that can be further characterized by spectroscopic and chemical techniques. In the present case, ozonolysis of isolated C29 triolefin was performed and two potential structures are proposed for this component.