Preparative isolation and purification of altertoxin I from an Alternaria sp. by HSCCC

Abstract

Altertoxin I (ATX I) is one of the common mycotoxins produced by genus Alternaria which is a common food pathogen of fruits and grains. To prepare enough quantity of pure ATX I for further research of mutagenicity and toxicology tests, a novel method using preparative highspeed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was developed. The ethyl acetate crude extracts of the acetone washes obtained after fermentation of Alternaria sp. was separated using a two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane - ethyl acetate - methanol - water (2:5:5:6, v/v). Collected fractions were analyzed by LC and identified by EI - MS and NMR analysis. The technique can isolate mg levels of the target compound per run. © 2008 The Author(s).