International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research (IJVNR) is published by IMR Press from Volume 95 Issue 1 (2025). Previous articles were published by another publisher under a hybrid publishing model, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Hogrefe.
Isolation and Structural Elucidation of Different Geometrical Isomers of Lycopene
1 Institute of Nutrition, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger Str. 25–29, 07743 Jena, Germany
2 Institute of Chemistry, Hohenheim University, Garbenstr. 30, 70593 Stuttgart, Germany
3 Institute of Food Chemistry, Hohenheim University, Garbenstr. 28, 70593 Stuttgart, Germany
Abstract
Five geometrical isomers of lycopene were isolated from a photoisomerized mixture on a semi-preparative C30 column and characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. 1H NMR and 2D NMR measurements were used to unambiguously assign the double bond configuration of five isomers: (5Z,9’Z)-, (9Z)-, (5Z,9Z)-, (all-E)-, and (5Z)-lycopene. This will allow other laboratories to use the results for their C30 HPLC. In addition, it is possible to investigate structure-activity relationships for these lycopene isomers which will improve the understanding of their physiological role in biological tissues.