Abstract
Microbial pigments have a distinguished potential for applications in food and pharmaceutical industries, stimulating the research in this field. The present study evaluated the ideal conditions for extracting bikaverin (red pigment) from the biomass of Fusarium oxysporum CCT7620. Among the solvents tested, ethyl acetate extraction resulted in the highest bikaverin concentration and the kinetic study revealed a saturation in bikaverin concentration from 256 min on. Based on a preliminary economic study, three sequential extractions with ethyl acetate was considered the ideal protocol to recover bikaverin. After extraction, chromatographic methods were tested to purify bikaverin. The use of silica gel or Sephadex (open column) could not successfully purify bikaverin, but the semi-preparative HPLC resulted in a bikaverin-enriched fraction with a purity degree equivalent to the commercial analytical standard. This work provides relevant information regarding the extraction and purification of bikaverin, which may be useful for other downstraming processes.