Physico-Chemical Methods Applied to Bioactive Compounds Determination from Ceramium Rubrum on the Romanian Coast of the Black Sea

Ana-Maria-Laura Dragan
University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” Bucharest, Romania

Abstract

Abstract The species of red algae Ceramium rubrum can be found in a very large quantity on the Romanian coast of the Black Sea. Div. Rhodophyta, of which Ceramium rubrum is included, is recognized especially for the two compounds that are extremely used in the field of medicine, pharmaceuticals and in the food industry for their properties, agar-agar and carrageenan. The study aims to determinate and quantify active principles in Ceramium rubrum red algae using IR and UV-VIS spectrometry and chromatographic methods. Dried alga powder and β-carotene standard were used for IR spectrometry. For the simultaneous evaluation of β-carotene, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, a chromatographic method (high-performance liquid chromatography) with a diode array detector was applied. In the 200–700 nm range, the quantitative analysis was carried out through internal calibration performed with β-carotene, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b. Adopting a statistical procedure of the validation parameters (linearity, specificity, precision, response function), the accuracy of the method was verified, relating to the analytical references. In this work, a study on the antioxidant capacity of this species of algae was also carried out, for which the chemiluminescence method was used.

Presentation