Reversed-Phase Medium-Pressure Liquid Chromatography Purification of Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters Using AQ-C18

Abstract

Omega-3 fatty acids are in high demand due to their efficacy in treating hypertriglyceridemia and preventing cardiovascular diseases. However, the growth of the industry is hampered by low purity and insufficient productivity. This study aims to develop an efficient RP-MPLC purification method for omega-3 fatty acid ethyl esters with high purity and capacity. The results indicate that the AQ-C18 featuring polar end-capped silanol groups outperformed C18 and others in retention time and impurity separation. By injecting pure fish oil esters with a volume equivalent to a 1.25% bed volume on an AQ-C18 MPLC column using a binary isocratic methanol–water (90:10, v:v) mobile phase at 30 mL/min, optimal omega-3 fatty acid ethyl esters were obtained, with the notable purity of 90.34% and a recovery rate of 74.30%. The total content of EPA and DHA produced increased from 67.91% to 85.27%, meeting the acceptance criteria of no less than 84% set by the 2020 edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China. In contrast, RP-MPLC significantly enhanced the production efficiency per unit output compared to RP-HPLC. This study demonstrates a pioneering approach to producing omega-3 fatty acid ethyl esters with high purity and of greater quantity using AQ-C18 RP-MPLC, showing this method’s significant potential for use in industrial-scale manufacturing.