Continuous counter current extraction, isolation and determination of solanesol in Nicotiana tobacum L. by non-aqueous reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography

A method of continuous counter current extraction in a large-scale production of solanesol from tobacco leaves was developed. The crude extract containing 15–20% solanesol was subjected to a series of steps, viz., saponification, solvent recrystallization and column chromatography. The pure material was characterized by FT-IR, ESI-MS, 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectrometry. The analysis was carried out by a simple and rapid non-aqueous reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic method on a Hypersil BDS C18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, particle size 5 μm) with isopropyl alcohol–methanol (60:40, v/v) as mobile phase and detection at 215 nm. The product purity was between 95 and 98% (w/w) as determined by HPLC.