Production of High Purity Solanesol from Impure Low Assay Tobacco Extract by Single Step Normal Phase Chromatography Method

Solanesol is an essential intermediate for the synthesis of valuable vitamins and anticancer drugs. In impure form, solanesol is available as low purity extracts of tobacco. This extract is a complex composition of waxes and various polar and non-polar constituents with solanesol. The work presented one step chromatography method for the generation of high purity (95 wt. %) solanesol from the crude 18 wt. % assay extract of tobacco. The mobile phase for the purification was selected on the basis of miscibility characteristics of impure extract with various solvents. Suitable adsorbent for purification was selected on the basis of elution selectivity and desorption ratio. Alumina was selected as an adsorbent for purification due to high binding capacity of 35.2 mg/ (mL of adsorbent), high elution selectivity and desorption ratio. Optimized process produces solanesol of 95 wt. % purity. The process provides single step scalable purification of solanesol with high purity and recovery.