Isolation and Purification of Natural Products from Microbial Cultures

Abstract

Antibiotic natural products from microbes are characterized by diverse and mostly complex chemical structures, which challenge their total chemical synthesis and make biotechnological production to the predominant production route. In order to reach these valuable compounds in the fermentation broth, sophisticated recovery methods are required, and a high degree of purity is essential for a thorough exploration of their beneficial properties in subsequent assays. The isolation and purification of natural products from microbial cultures is mainly based on the repeated application of extraction and chromatographic separation methods. This chapter describes the general strategy of natural product recovery from microbial cultures, gives theoretical and practical insights to underlying methods—essentially compound extraction and preparative chromatography—and describes a specific methodical approach to isolate and purify the natural product fusarubin from the culture of the fungus Fusarium sp.