I search for an HPLC or HPLC MS method(s) to extract , separate and identify the carotenoids or the phenolic compounds of the Barbary fig pulp Opuntia ficus indica.Thank you very much
The polarities of those compounds are generally very different. Carotenoids are very non-polar while many phenolic compounds are quite polar.
I'd suggest 2 extractions. The first uses dichloromethane (DCM) and it extracts the carotenes and non-polar phenolics such as tocopherols (if they exist in this plant/ plant part). The second extraction is in methanol and this extracts more polar phenolic compounds.
I'd try wide-polarity range chromatography on a flash C18 column to separate the polar and non-polar compounds from the DCM extract (water to MeOH to 100% DCM). I'd use non-aqueous C18 HPLC (MeOH/DCM gradient) to evaluate the carotenes @ 450 nm.
for the methanol extract, I'd try SAX ion exchange flash chromatography followed by regular C18 HPLC to evaluate the phenolics.