[Analysis of pigments from Rhodotorula glutinis by Raman spectroscopy and thin layer chromatography]

The pigments from Rhodotorula glutinis were separated by using thin layer chromatography, and the result showed that Rhodotorula glutinis cells could synthesize at least three kinds of pigments, which were beta-carotene, torulene, and torularhodin. The Raman spectra based on the three pigments were acquired, and original spectra were preprocessed by background elimination, baseline correction, and three-point-smoothing, then the averaged spectra from different pigments were investigated, and the result indicated that Raman shift which represents C-C bond was different, and the wave number of beta-carotene demonstrated the largest deviation, finally torulene and torularhodin in Rhodotorula glutinis had more content than beta-carotene. Quantitative analysis of Raman peak height ratio revealed that peak height ratio of pigments showed little difference, which could be used as parameters for further research on living cells, providing reference content of pigments. The above results suggest that Raman spectroscopy combined with thin layer chromatography can be applied to analyze pigments from Rhodotorula glutinis, provides abundant information about pigments, and serves as an effective method to study pigments.