Differential partitioning for purification of anthocyanins from Brassica oleracea L.

Aqueous two phase extraction was employed as an alternate method for the downstream processing of
anthocyanins. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) 4000/magnesium sulphate (14.8%/10.3% w/w) was found to be
the most suitable system. Tie line length of 32.61% and volume ratio of 0.73 have resulted in maximum
partitioning of anthocyanins to the PEG-rich phase (yield – 98.19%) and sugars to the salt-rich phase
(yield – 73.16%). Multistage aqueous two phase extraction resulted in an increase in removal of sugars
(to about 96.5%) with 91.9% yield of anthocyanins. The phase forming polymer (PEG 4000) was successfully
separated from anthocyanins employing organic–aqueous extraction resulting in 2.3 fold increase in
the concentration of anthocyanins. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)–Mass spectroscopy
(MS)/MS was carried out to confirm the structural stability of anthocyanins.