10.3.4.1 Chlorophylls

Chlorophylls are green, lipid-soluble pigments found in all algae, higher plants, and cyanobacteria that carry out photosynthesis (Rasmussen and Morrissey, 2007). Chlorophyll is converted into pheophytin, pyropheophytin, and pheophorbide in processed vegetable foods following ingestion by humans. These valuable bioactive compounds show antimutagenic effect so are thus likely play a significant role in cancer prevention— specifically via inhibition of myeloma cell multiplicity via pheophorbide (Simon, Alvin et al., 1999). Moreover, chlorophylls are used as a natural food-coloring agent and has anti­oxidant as well as antimutagenic properties.

The process of extracting chlorophyll from marine algae begins with dewatering and desalting the highly dilute culture (0.1-1% w/v, in the case of microalgae). Chlorophyll is then extracted from the dried biomass by organic solvent extraction or SFE. This process is followed by a fractionation step to separate the chlorophyll pigments and derivatives. Many studies have been carried out to optimize chlorophyll extraction and fractionation from algae (Liqun, Pengcheng et al., 2008; Hosikian, Lim et al., 2010).