Preparative Separation of Crocins with High Color Value from Gardenia Fruits

OBJECTIVE To establish an efficient separation process to afford gardenia yellow and crocins with high color value. METHODS The process was conducted using reversed-phase medium pressure liquid chromatography. A high pressure liquid chromatography - photodiode array method was applied for qualitative and quantitative analysis of crocin-1. Moreover, the color value was also evaluated by UV method. RESULTS After the reversed-phase separation, the content of crocin-1 in refined product reached 60.8%, with the color value to be 756. Crocin-1(1), crocin-2(2) and crocin-3(3) could be separated either with similar procedure. CONCLUSION The process developed is highly efficient, low-cost and compact, which affords a potential approach for industrial production of crocins with improved quality.