Purification of duck liver lecithin by alumina column chromatography

【Objective】Purification conditions of duck liver lecithin by alumina column chromatography were optimized to provide references for industrial production of duck liver lecithin. 【Method】Using duck livers as test materials, the effects of aluminum oxide mesh number, eluent concentration, eluent flow rate, sample concentration and loading volume on alumina oxide column purification of duck liver lecithin were evaluated. The purified lecithin was analyzed using TLC and gas chromatography. 【Result】The results showed that the optimized purity and yield of the duck liver lecithin were up to 90.37% and 86.51%, respectively, and the parameters were 100-200 alumina oxide mesh number, 4.25 g loading volume, 0.2g/mL sample concentration, 95% ethanol concentration, and 3.5mL/min flow rate. The purified duck liver lecithin displayed a large and bright spot on the plate by TLC analysis, and had less impurity. The duck liver lecithin had higher content of unsaturated fatty acids, including linoleic acid and linolenic acid, which were essential fatty acids and accounted for 15.100% of the total fatty acids. 【Conclusion】The duck liver lecithin can be effectively purified from alumina oxide column.