Large scale individual omega-3 fatty acids isolation from marine oils by supercritic fluid chromatography

越来越多的证据表明，摄入更多的欧米茄-3脂肪酸可能会提供一定程度的保护 预防冠心病、癌症、抑郁症和焦虑症。最广泛的来源， ω-3脂肪酸是鱼油，可以直接作为食物，也可以作为膳食补充剂。然而，鱼油补充剂， 取决于它们的来源和提取方法，含有可变的ω-3脂肪酸的相对比例。 研究还表明，EPA和DHA在降低冠心病风险方面具有不同的作用 疾病最近，DPA作为潜在的上级分子出现。因此，为了研究DPA， 生物活性，将适合获得其纯化形式。这种化学实体在自然界中是罕见的 海豹是北大西洋地区丰富的资源。SiliCycle已经使一个缺乏石油的 从海豹脂肪中提取饱和脂肪酸，从中可以纯化ω-3脂肪酸。作为omega-3脂肪酸 如果结构非常相似，则需要强大的分离技术，例如液相色谱。 超临界流体色谱（SFC）似乎是一种理想的替代技术。超临界CO2用作 移动的相，从收集的级分中快速蒸发，是无毒的（对于大多数有机物来说不是这种情况 液相色谱中使用的溶剂）和环境友好。此外，重金属不溶于 超临界CO2，因此它们将不存在于最终产物中。该项目的工业合作伙伴， SiliCycle能够生产用于该过程的高选择性、大容量固定相。 蒙特利尔大学配备了适当的SFC仪器，并具有执行 所需的分离放大。本提案中提出的纯化工艺将提供 第一个大规模分离方法，允许以其未改性的形式生产单独的ω-3脂肪酸 form. SiliCycle对在加拿大东部建立这样的净化设施有浓厚的兴趣。

Increasing evidence suggests that higher intake of omega-3 fatty acids may offer some degree of protection against coronary disease, cancers, depression and anxiety disorders. The most widely available source of omega-3 fatty acids is fish oil either directly as food, or dietary supplements. However, fish oil supplements, depending on their source and on the extraction process, contain variable relative ratios of omega-3 fatty acids. It has also been shown that EPA and DHA have different effects on the risk reduction of coronary heart disease. Recently, DPA emerged as a potentially superior molecule. Therefore, in order to study DPA biological activity it would be suitable to have access to its purified form. This chemical entity is rare in nature except in seal, an abundant resource in the North Atlantic region. SiliCycle has already enriched an oil devoid of saturated fatty acids from seal fat from which omega-3 fatty acids could be purified. As omega-3 fatty acid structures are very similar, a powerful separation technique, such as liquid chromatography is required. Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) seems to be an ideal alternative technique. Supercritical CO2 used as mobile phase, evaporates fast from the collected fractions, is nontoxic (which is not the case for most organic solvents used in liquid chromatography) and environment friendly. Moreover, heavy metals are insoluble in supercritical CO2 and therefore they will be absent from the final product. The industrial partner in this project, SiliCycle, has the ability to produce highly selective, large capacity stationary phases to be used in this process. The University of Montreal is equipped with the appropriate SFC instruments and has the expertise to perform the required up-scaling of the separation. The purification process presented in this proposal would offer the first large scale separation method allowing production of individual omega-3 fatty acids in their unmodified form. SiliCycle has a strong interest in establishing such a purification facility in Eastern Canada.