Astaxanthin production system

Van Berkel and Zhou first tested (3-carotene with ESI positive in 1994 (van Berkel and Zhou, 1994). In this study, a doubly charged molecular ion of (3-carotene was observed as the primary species when triflur-oacetic acid was present in the solution. Van Breemen was the first to utilize ESI as an interface between HPLC and MS to analyze carotenoids (van Breemen, 1995). In this study, ESI operated in negative mode ionized xanthophylls (astaxanthin, (3-cryptoxanthin, and lutein), but did not ionize hydrocarbon carotenes (lycopene and (3-carotene). In contrast, ESI positive produced only [M" ] for all carotenoids in this study, and the addition of halogenated solvents to the post-column effluent greatly enhanced signal intensity (van Breemen, 1995). A later study by Guarantini et al. demonstrated the ability of ESI positive to produce both [M" "] and [M + H]" " for a number of xanthophylls, and these authors attributed the production of the two species to solvent system... 

More recently, the same group has conducted an in vitro characterization of the astaxanthin biosynthetic enzymes providing evidence for substrate utilization, product diversity and cofactor requirements [22]. The astaxanthin system is not unique to marine organisms yet these reports document the first characterization of a biosynthetic pathway at the gene and enzyme level in a marine system. 

Although, as was shown above, it is possible to introduce an oxygen function into the rings of yS-carotene without oxidising the polyene system unselectively, Hoffmann-La Roche developed in the 1970s a new strategy for the synthesis of xanthophyUs this has been used in the case of astaxanthin at production scale since 1984. 

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