Efficient solvent system for maximizing 3-demethylated colchicine recovery using response surface methodology

• Developed efficient solvent system for 3-DMC (anti-cancer drug) extraction.
• Higher 3-DMC (5.95 g l−1) recovery.
• 7% (w/v) increase in 3-DMC yield without using chloroform.
• Enabling efficient extraction of 3-DMC for commercial applications.
• Optimized solvent system without chloroform to minimize residual solvent toxicity.

Purification of any bioactive compound obtained by biotransformation process is a critical aspect for its quality and recovery leading to its commercial viability. In this study, several solvents and their interactions were studied for the recovery of 3-demethylated colchicine (3-DMC; anti-cancer drug) from the fermentation medium. Due to inherent toxicity of chloroform, we also aimed at its removal from the solvent extraction system. A quadratic mixture model was developed using RSM with interaction terms as shown by contour/3D plots. A set of 15 experiments were performed and validated with different solvent combinations. In this study, the developed polynomial model showed a high F-value (362.36) and R2 value (0.99) which suggests the suitability of D-optimal design to predict the responses accurately. The results indicated higher recoveries of 5.95 g/l of 3-DMC, without the use of chloroform enabling efficient extraction of 3-DMC for commercial applications.

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