Improved liquid chromatographic method for the analysis of photosynthetic pigments of higher plants

The paper presents an improved reversed-phase LC method for the separation of the pigments from green leaves. A good separation of carotenoids and of their cis- and trans-isomers was achieved, especially for the separation of trans-lutein, zeaxanthin, cis-lutein, which are usually not well separated. No perfect separation of α-carotene, β-carotene and pheophytin a was possible, but conditions for a perfect coelution of pheophytin a with either β-carotene or α-carotene were established. Simultaneous equations allowing the determination of pheophytin a and α-carotene or pheophytin a and β-carotene are also given.