Why is lipid extraction through chloroform/ methanol low from wet micro-algal biomass due to the presence of neutral lipids? What is the role of the dissolution of neutral lipids?
Lipids in water form liposomes or oil bearing large droplets which trap large amount of it. In wet biomass, lipids could not be extracted because they need treatment of alkali, to sopanify them, then extract and then purify in column chromatography.
The ratio of three components viz Chloroform, methanol and water is important for optimal lipid extraction. By taking wet biomass there would be alteration in the ratio, in addition the solvent mix permeability into the cells would decrease and hence low lipids.
By drying and homogenizing or using powdered biomass you also increase the surface area which would further enhance entry of solvent mix into the cells.
Probably you would need more volume of solvent mix for the wet biomass!!!!
I second the answer from Simrat Kaur, dissolution depends upon the polarity of solvents used. In wet biomass extraction large amount of water interferes with the solvent and lipid interaction and thus reduces the lipid extraction.
Wet biomass treated with cell disruption techniques viz. microwave sonication could improve the extraction yields.
Another possible reason for the decrease in lipid extrqaction from a wet extraction is that phospholipids hidrate in the presence of water. When phospholipids are hydrated, they will go to the water phase of your extraction. So in your lipid phase you will have mainly apolar lipids such as triglicerides and esterified esterols.
Probably your samples contains a large amount of phopholipids coming from the cell membranes. For a reference on this you can check Tzompa-Sosa, D. A. et al. Insect lipid profile: Aqueous versus organic solvent-based extraction methods, Food Research International, 2014.
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