Study on technologies of extracting and saponifying lutein ester from marigold

Lutein can be used to improve human immune system and prevent cataract and senile maculutea degeneration.It can be obtained by saponification of lutein ester,which is the major extracts from Marigold.Lutein is widely used in food,food additive,drugs and feed industries.In this paper,extraction of lutein ester from marigold is conducted with n-hexane as extractant.The best condition for saponifying lutein ester was chosen by the orthogonal experiments of L9(34).It is found that using 20% KOH methanol as the extracting solution,with saponification reaction time of 40 minutes,at a temperature of 50℃,Lutein ester can be thoroughly sponified.Lutein can then be recrystallized in the solvent of acetone and methanol(v:v 1:1).The purity of lutein crystal is 97.2%.