On the monitoring of carotenogenesis by Blakeslea trispora using HPLC

A rapid, isocratic RP-HPLC method for the determination of the carotenoids produced by Blakeslea trispora is described. The mixture of acetone:acetonitrile, 60:40, v/v, found appropriate for the cellular triacylglycerol analysis, was also successfully used for the separation of lycopene, γ-carotene and β-carotene. The method was validated for β-carotene using an olive oil triacylglycerol fraction devoid of carotenoids. Recovery study (300 mg/kg oil) was 99%. RSDr and RSD_L were satisfactory (<4%). The limit of quantification was found to be 4.56 ng/5 μL and the system was linear in the range 2.0–30.0 ng/μL.