[Preparation of milligram quantity of vitamin D3 isomers by a two-step high performance liquid chromatographic...

The preparation of milligram quantities of three vitamin D3 isomers, previtamin D3, lumisterol3 and tachysterol3, were carried out in a laboratory scale first by irradiating 7-dehydrocholesterol in a phototherapy chamber equipped with UVB lamps, followed by using a two-step high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a semi-preparative normal phase column and an analytical reverse-phase column. The final products obtained were identified by UV spectrophotometry and HPLC. According to the detection limits for the three isomers, no contamination with any other isomers was detected in the previtamin D3, lumisterol3 and tachysterol3 preparations, except that a very small amount of vitamin D3, constituting no more than 0.25% of the product, was found in previtamin D3 preparation.