JP2002193850A - Method for producing high-purity lycopene and application thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for industrially efficiently producing high-purity lycopene, and to provide applications thus obtained high-purity lycopene. SOLUTION: This method for producing high-purity lycopene is characterized by comprising the steps of centrifuging a tomato treated product, putting the liquid portion to microfiltration, drying the resultant non-filtered product, washing the dried product with a 50-100 wt.% polar solvent, dissolving thus washed dried product in a nonpolar solvent followed by recrystallization, and washing the resultant crystallized product with a polar solvent followed by drying. The other objective application of thus obtained high-purity lycopene is preferably an anti-cataract agent.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for producing high-purity lycopene having a purity of 55% or more using tomato as a raw material and its use as an anti-cataract agent and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a tomato is crushed, decomposed with a plant tissue-disintegrating enzyme, and then subjected to permeation through an ultrafiltration membrane having a molecular weight cutoff of about 120,000 to 200,000 to concentrate the tomato, which is richer in red than non-permeate. A method for obtaining a liquid (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-35880) is known. In addition, after adding alkali to the tomato crushed product to separate the carotenoid complex from living tissue, and removing unnecessary epidermis, seeds, fibers, etc. from the separated solution,
An acid is added to separate and precipitate a carotenoid pigment, and the precipitate is concentrated after adjusting the pH to neutral to slightly alkaline, and then acidified by adding an acid thereto. Method of obtaining (Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-131)
No. 1) is known. Further, as a method for producing lycopene or the like using supercritical carbon dioxide, there has been proposed a method of performing an extraction treatment with a solvent such as an organic solvent or vegetable oil (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-176563). Still further, the inventors previously proposed, to collect the liquid portion by centrifuging the processed tomatoes, to collect the non-permeate by microfiltration,
Production method of tomato pigment (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-183914), or addition of an organic solvent to this non-permeate so as to be 50 to 90% by weight and mixing and stirring to produce tomato pigment of light red color (See JP-A-10-324816).

[0003] However, the tomato concentrate described above contains pulp, polysaccharides, insoluble solids such as proteins, sugars, acids,
It contains abundant soluble components such as aroma components, and has a rich flavor unique to tomatoes.Therefore, it has drawbacks such that this tomato concentrate cannot be widely used as a pigment, and its lycopene content is low. I have. Tokiko 55-1
The carotenoid for food coloring according to No. 311 is characterized by a high lycopene content, but requires the use of alkalis and acids in its production, the process is very complicated, and the product has a salty taste. Therefore, it has disadvantages such as being restricted when used as a lycopene in foods, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and the like. Tokiohei 10-50959
According to the method 0, high-purity lycopene can be produced, but there is a disadvantage that an organic solvent such as acetone / ethyl acetate must be used in a large amount (about 100 to 300 times that of lycopene), which is not efficient.

[0004] As the use of lycopene, a coloring agent, an antioxidant, an anticancer agent (ascites cancer), an antiulcer agent and the like are conventionally known. However, the use of an anticataract agent is conventionally known. However, this is the first application presented in the related application that has not been published at the time of filing the present application. However, the related application does not specifically describe how tomato-derived lycopene can be suitably used as an anti-cataract agent.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, to provide a method for industrially and efficiently producing high-purity lycopene, and to obtain a high-purity lycopene. As a specific use of pure lycopene, it is to present an anti-cataract agent.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventors have conducted intensive studies in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and as a result, the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-352325, that is, after centrifuging the processed tomato products, By using a non-permeate containing lycopene obtained by a method of microfiltration of a liquid portion as an intermediate material, drying the non-permeate, washing with a polar solvent in a specific concentration range, and then recrystallizing And found that high-purity lycopene can be efficiently produced, and completed the present invention. That is, in the present invention, the processed tomato product is centrifuged, the liquid portion is subjected to microfiltration, the non-permeated material is dried, and the dried product is washed with a 50 to 100% by weight of a polar solvent, and is converted into a non-polar solvent. After dissolution, recrystallization and then
A method for producing high-purity lycopene, comprising the steps of washing the recrystallized product with a polar solvent and drying to dryness under reduced pressure. The present invention also provides use of the high-purity lycopene as an anti-cataract agent.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the present invention will be described specifically. First, terms used in the description of the present invention are defined as follows. The term "lycopene" refers compound represented by the molecular formula C ₄₀ H ₅₆ tomato dye main body (Lycopene), but is not limited to the configuration ratio of the stereoisomers. The “lycopene complex” indicates a unit which can be called a dye structure in which lycopene and other biological components are bound or coexist, and is a dye unit composed of a plurality of components having a lycopene molecule as a main component. "Tomato pigment" refers to a pigment derived from tomato containing lycopene, a lycopene complex, and chloroplast in any ratio.

The processed tomato product used in the present invention is:
It refers to a tomato crushed product, a ground product, a pulp treated product thereof, or a processed product obtained by treating them with a plant tissue disintegrating enzyme. Specifically, for example, tomato pulp is crushed and sifted by a conventional method, and the rind is removed to remove the skin, seeds, etc., tomato puree, tomato juice, or concentrated reduced tomato obtained by concentrating them, tomato paste, etc. Is mentioned. This processed tomato product
Prior to centrifugation, the lycopene complex is concentrated at a high concentration by destroying plant cells by performing a physical grinding treatment using mechanical shearing force such as a blender-type grinding machine and / or a plant tissue disintegration enzyme treatment. It is preferable because the contained tomato pigment can be easily obtained. In addition, said grinding process and / or
Alternatively, the enzyme treatment can be performed on a liquid portion obtained by centrifugation.

[0009] Examples of the plant tissue-disintegrating enzymes include pectylase, pectinase, cellulase, hemicellulase, protease, amylase, lipase and the like. The enzyme treatment is preferably carried out with gentle stirring at around the optimum pH and the optimum temperature of the enzyme to be used. For example, when pectylase is used, the pH is 3 to 4 and the temperature is 20.
It is preferably performed at ~ 55 ° C until the tissue structure is disrupted. Although the processed tomato product may be used as it is, it is preferable to heat-treat it to completely deactivate the enzyme remaining therein.

[0010] If necessary, the processed tomato product may be coarsely filtered in advance using a coarse filter cloth or the like in order to remove water-insoluble solids floating in the processed tomato product. Then, the processed tomato product is used as it is, or when the processed tomato product is a tomato paste, 2 to 5 times the volume of water is appropriately added, uniformly stirred to form a water suspension, and then centrifuged. The use of the aqueous suspension in this manner is preferable because lycopene can be obtained at a high recovery rate, and tasteless and odorless lycopene can be obtained by the washing effect by contact with a large amount of water.

The centrifugation method is not particularly limited, and any ordinary centrifugation method can be adopted. In short, any method may be used as long as it can perform solid-liquid separation of the processed tomato product into a liquid portion and a sediment portion in a short time,
For example, a high-speed centrifugation method or the like can be employed. As the conditions of the centrifugal force and the time at this time, when the processed tomato product is divided into a liquid portion and a sedimentation portion, any condition that maximizes the recovery amount of the liquid portion is adopted.
For 30 seconds to 30 minutes at 10,000 G to 10,000 G can be adopted.
By this centrifugation operation, it is possible to very easily efficiently separate the semi-fluid (paste-like) solid content from the liquid portion from which lycopene is released.

The liquid portion thus obtained contains a high concentration of lycopene dye, but at the same time, insoluble components such as pulp, polysaccharides and proteins, and soluble components such as sugars, acids and aroma components derived from raw materials. Ingredients are also contained at high concentrations. Then, the liquid portion is subjected to microfiltration to form a non-permeate containing a desired lycopene dye in a high concentration (hereinafter, simply referred to as a non-permeate) and a permeate containing an impurity component (hereinafter, simply referred to as a permeate). Part). The microfiltration (MF) in the present invention is
This means that suspended particles of about 0.2 to 10 μm contained in the liquid portion are separated and collected using a membrane. Generally, a microfiltration membrane has pores capable of separating suspended particles of about 0.01 to several μm, but in the present invention, it is 0.01 to 5 μm, more preferably 0.1 to 5 μm.
Lycopene can be efficiently recovered by using a membrane having an average pore size of 0.5 μm.

[0013] Examples of the microfiltration membrane that can be used in the present invention include those formed into a tubular type, a capillary type, a spiral type, or a hollow fiber type. Specifically, an organic film made of a polysulfone-based material, a fluorine-based material, a polyolefin-based material or the like, and an inorganic film made of a ceramic material can be used. Specific examples of the organic film include NTF-5201 (manufactured by Nitto Denko Corporation), NTF-5202 (manufactured by the company), 52005 (manufactured by the company), SF-501 (manufactured by Kuraray), and PW-303.
(Manufactured by Asahi Kasei Kogyo Co., Ltd.), and a specific example made of an inorganic film is a ceramic film CEFILT (manufactured by NGK Insulators, Ltd.)
And the like. The operation pressure of the microfiltration membrane is, for example, a normal operation pressure of 0.1 to 8.0 kg / cm ² and a temperature of 10 to 8 kg.
It can be performed at 0 ° C.

Next, in order to permeate the liquid portion with a microfiltration membrane, an appropriate microfiltration processing device can be selected. For example, in a tubular type ceramic filter, the membrane inlet temperature is 10 to 80 ° C., and the inlet pressure is 3.0.
~ 9.0kg / cm ² · G, outlet pressure 2.0 ~ 8.0k
The treatment is preferably performed under conditions such as g / cm ² · G.
Further, in a filter using a plate type organic membrane, for example, the membrane inlet temperature is 10 to 80 ° C., and the inlet pressure is 2.0 to 8.0.
kg / cm ² · G, outlet pressure 0.1-5.0 kg / cm ²
-It is preferable to process under conditions such as G.

As the drying method used in the present invention, any method can be used as long as the non-permeate can be dried and pulverized as a post-treatment. For example, a freeze-drying method, a spray-drying method,
Microwave irradiation drying method, far-infrared heating drying method, vacuum (reduced pressure) drying method, through-air drying method, hot air drying method, fluidized drying method, method using a drying agent, etc. can be used.
Microwave irradiation drying, far infrared heating and drying are preferred.

The polar solvent used for washing the dried product may be any solvent capable of separating and eluting lycopene and other carotenoid components. For example, methanol, ethanol, propanol, acetone or a mixture thereof may be used. A mixed solvent of a polar solvent and water is used. Among them, from the viewpoint of safety and purification effect, preferably 50 to 100%
Ethanol is also recommended, particularly preferably 70-100% ethanol. If it is less than 50%, sedimentation of the pigment particles is poor, and a great deal of labor is required for the subsequent recovery.

It is desirable that the cleaning conditions are set by setting the optimum conditions according to the properties and physical properties of the target processing object. The method for mixing the lycopene solution and the organic solvent is not particularly limited, and may be any uniform mixing method. For example, a commonly used mechanical stirring method is used. The stirring time at that time is sufficient if the solvent sufficiently penetrates into the inside of the pigment particles, comes into contact with contaminant components other than lycopene, and may be a time necessary for washing, for example, a mixing stirring time of 30 minutes to 2 hours or the like. Adopted. After stirring, any of a batch system and a continuous system can be employed for separating and collecting the precipitate. The method may be any of a stationary type, a squeezing type, a membrane type, and a centrifugal type, and the composition of the filtration surface used may be any of filter paper, polysulfone, and a plastic plate.

After the above washing, the washing residue containing lycopene is washed and dehydrated with alcohols using, for example, a large Buchner funnel and a filter bottle.
Dissolve in the minimum necessary amount of non-polar solvent to obtain a high concentration lycopene-containing solution. As the nonpolar solvent used at this time, any solvent may be used as long as it can dissolve lycopene, and examples thereof include benzene, n-hexane, cyclohexane, carbon disulfide, and carbon tetrachloride. Among them, benzene or n-hexane is preferred from the viewpoint of purification effect or safety.

As a method of recrystallization, a method utilizing the difference in solubility of the nonpolar solvent solution due to a temperature difference or a method of adding a polar solvent can be used. From the viewpoint of efficiency and the like, the latter method is preferably used. More specifically, 25-800
Recrystallization is performed by adding and mixing a polar solvent in an amount of 50% by weight, particularly preferably 50 to 200% by weight. As the polar solvent used at this time, methanol, ethanol, propanol, acetone and the like can be used, but alcohols are preferably used.

As the polar solvent used for washing the recrystallized product, methanol, ethanol, propanol, acetone and the like can be used.
From the viewpoint of safety, ethanol is particularly preferably used. The washed recrystallized product is dried after solid-liquid separation.
Any drying method can be used as long as it can remove the residual solvent and can be powdered by post-treatment. For example, freeze drying, spray drying, microwave irradiation drying, far-infrared heat drying, vacuum A drying method, a through-air drying method, a hot air drying method, a fluidized drying method, a method using a desiccant and the like can be used, and a vacuum drying method is particularly preferable. For example, the lycopene crystals separated by filtration are put into a brown desiccator, sucked, and dried under reduced pressure.

The high-purity lycopene thus obtained is used as an anti-cataract agent, particularly for preventing diabetic cataract,
It can be suitably used as a therapeutic agent. There is no particular limitation on the method of use, and it can be used, for example, for instillation or oral administration, and the form of the preparation may be any of tablets, powders, liquids, and the like.

[0022]

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. Example 1 (Production of lycopene from tomato paste)
460kg of tomato paste diluted with water
x was adjusted to 7. An emulsifier (Ebara Seisakusho Co., Ltd. Milder MDN303V-C type) is used with 2300 kg of this diluted solution.
Crushed at 7,000 rpm using a tomato, and the processed tomato product is centrifuged (Separator SB7-06-076, manufactured by Westphalia Co., Ltd.) and fed at 6000 rpm.
The depulp treatment was performed under the conditions of pulp discharge for 3 minutes per minute. The liquid part obtained here was recovered. The lycopene content in this solution was 12 mg%. This liquid part,
0.2μm rejection diameter microfilter (AMF, UMF
-553 type, membrane area 10m ² ), temperature 50 ° C, pressure 3
The solution was supplied at Kg / cm ² and treated to remove the permeate, and the lycopene particles were concentrated to a non-permeate. The lycopene concentration of this non-permeate was 0.55%, and the viscosity was 3,500 cp.

Next, a final concentration of 10 mg% of Pectlyase (manufactured by Seishinsha) was added to the non-permeate, and the mixture was added at 30 ° C. and 30 ° C.
After holding for 1 minute to disintegrate the plant tissue and reduce the viscosity, the mixture was heated to 90 ° C. to inactivate the added enzyme. This liquid was filtered again with a 0.2 μm-exclusion-diameter fine filter (NGK-Cefilt, manufactured by NGK Insulators, filtration area 0.35 m ² ).
The treatment was performed at 50 ° C. and an inlet pressure of 3 kg / m ² to obtain a non-permeate containing 0.55% lycopene on the retentate side.
10 kg of these lycopenes were collected, subdivided into 1 kg stainless steel vats, preliminarily frozen at −30 ° C. for 24 hours, and then frozen at −30 ° C. with an RLE-21 vacuum freeze dryer manufactured by Kyowa Vacuum Engineering Co., Ltd. Drying was performed for 24 hours under the conditions of a shelf heating temperature of 42 ° C. and a degree of vacuum of 740 mmHg to obtain 1.15 kg of lycopene powder (lycopene concentration: 4.36%).

1 kg of the obtained dried lycopene is crushed,
After adding and mixing 80% ethanol prepared using ethanol for food addition at room temperature, stirring for 30 minutes and washing,
No. The non-permeable portion was separated with a Buchner filter equipped with 101 filter paper. The separated non-permeable portion was added with methanol for the purpose of removing other carotenoids with a glass filter, stirred, and suction-filtered. Next, benzene was eluted to elute lycopene. The obtained benzene extract was applied to a 1 L rotary evaporator (liquid temperature 3) manufactured by Shibata Scientific Instruments Co., Ltd.
The solution was concentrated under reduced pressure at 5 ° C), and 26 g of the concentrated lycopene solution obtained was obtained.
Was dissolved in 200 ml beaker with 75 ml of benzene, and 75 ml of methanol was added. 101
The precipitate on the filter paper was dissolved with 50 ml of benzene, and 100 ml of methanol was added to obtain a crystallized product. The crystallized product on the filter paper was transferred to a wide-mouthed sample bottle together with a deoxidizer, covered with a 500 ml beaker, and dried under reduced pressure with a light-shielded suction bell for 24 hours to obtain 21 g of highly pure lycopene (lycopene purity: 77%). .

The analysis of lycopene and solid content is described in “Analysis Handbook” edited by the Japan Tomato Products and Condiments Inspection Association, processed tomato products, sauces, and vinegar (PAR).
T1), March 1981, pages 8-9 and 21. Lycopene was analyzed in the same manner in the following examples.

Example 2 (Production of Lycopene from Tomato Fruit) 1,300 kg of tomato fruit was washed and crushed according to a conventional method.
After heating to 65 ° C, the juice was squeezed with a finisher equipped with a 0.5 mm screen to obtain 1150 kg of tomato juice. Its Brix was 5, and the lycopene content was 12 mg%. This juice was emulsified using an emulsifying machine (Milda-MDN303V-V type manufactured by Ebara Corporation) at 7000 rpm.
To perform cell disruption treatment.

Subsequently, a depulp treatment was performed using a centrifuge (Separator SB7-06-076 manufactured by Westphalia) at 6000 rpm for 10 minutes and pulp discharge for 3 seconds. The lycopene content in the centrifuged supernatant collected here was 10 mg%. The supernatant was repulped again with a 300-mesh vibrating sieve, and the supernatant was supplied to a 0.2 μm-exclusion-diameter fine filter (NTF-5202, manufactured by Nitto Denko Corporation, membrane area: 12 cm ² ). Pressure 3kg /
By treating under the condition of cm ² , the permeated liquid was separated to obtain a concentrated liquid containing lycopene, a non-permeate, in the liquid retained in the device.
The lycopene concentration of this concentrate was 0.25%. Next, pectinase (manufactured by Yakult Honsha) at a final concentration of 10 mg% was added to the concentrated solution, and the mixture was kept at 30 ° C. for 30 minutes to disintegrate the plant tissue, and then heated to 90 ° C. to inactivate the added enzyme. I let it. This solution was again filtered with a 0.2 μm exclusion diameter microfilter (NGK-Cefilt 1.35 m, manufactured by NGK Insulators, Ltd.).
² ) at 50 ° C. and an inlet pressure of 2.0 kg / cm ² , and a non-permeable portion 2 containing 0.6% lycopene on the retentate side.
0 kg was obtained.

20 kg of the non-permeable portion is collected, and 1 kg
Subdivided into stainless steel vats, pre-frozen at -30 ° C for 24 hours, and then vacuum freeze dryer (RLE-21 manufactured by Kyowa Vacuum Engineering Co., Ltd.)
Mold), freezing temperature -35 ° C, shelf heating temperature 42 ° C, 74
Drying was performed for 24 hours under the vacuum condition of 0 mmHg to obtain 2.3 kg of powdered lycopene (lycopene content: 5.2%). 2 kg of the obtained powdered lycopene was pulverized, and 80% ethanol prepared using ethanol for food additives was added and mixed at room temperature, and the mixture was stirred for 30 minutes and washed, and then 0.2%.
μm microfiltration machine (Cefilt, manufactured by NGK Insulators, Ltd.
Lycopene was separated from ethanol at 35 m ² ). The separated lycopene was added with methanol with a glass filter, stirred and filtered by suction, and then, for the purpose of removing other carotenoids, methanol was added and stirred and filtered by suction.

Next, benzene was eluted to elute lycopene. The obtained benzene extract was treated with a 1 L rotary evaporator (manufactured by Shibata Scientific Instruments Co., Ltd.) at a liquid temperature of 3.
The mixture was concentrated under reduced pressure at 0 ° C, and 51 g of the concentrated lycopene solution obtained was obtained.
Is dissolved in a 200 ml beaker with 75 ml of benzene,
Add 75 ml of methanol and stir well, The precipitate on the filter was dissolved in 200 ml of beaker with 50 ml of benzene, and 100 ml of methanol was added. The precipitate on the filter paper was washed with 50 ml of ethanol and recrystallized to obtain 49 g of a crystallized product. The crystallized product on the filter paper was transferred to a deoxygenating agent and a wide-mouthed sample bottle, covered with a 500 ml beaker, and dried under reduced pressure with a light-shielded suction bell for 24 hours to obtain 49 g of highly pure lycopene (lycopene purity: 90.5%). Obtained.

Example 3 (Production of Lycopene from Tomato Paste) To 230 kg of tomato paste was diluted by adding water, and Bri
Adjusted to x7. 1150 kg of this diluted solution was emulsified using an emulsifying machine (Milder MDN303V-C type manufactured by Ebara Seisakusho).
The cells were disrupted at 000 rpm and centrifuged at 60 centrifuges (Separator SB7-06-076, manufactured by Westphalia).
Depulp was performed under the condition of 00 rpm for 7 minutes. The centrifuged supernatant was then passed through a 300 mesh sieve to remove any pulp fragments. The lycopene content in this liquid was 12 mg%. The supernatant was filtered through a 0.2 μm-exclusion-diameter microfiltration machine (SA-020 model, manufactured by Ceramen).
To a film area of 11.5 m ² ) at a temperature of 50 ° C. and a pressure of 4 k
The permeated liquid was separated by treatment under the condition of g / cm ² , and the agricultural liquid containing lycopene was concentrated as a non-permeated substance in the apparatus holding part. The lycopene concentration of this concentrate was 0.25%. This solution was again passed through a 0.2 μm exclusion diameter microfilter (NGK-Ceefilt, manufactured by NGK Insulators, Ltd., 0.35
m ² ) at a temperature of 50 ° C. and an inlet pressure of 2.0 kg / cm ² to obtain 12.6 kg of a lycopene solution containing 1.0% of liquopene on the retentate side.

12.6 kg of this lycopene solution was collected,
Subdivided into 1 kg stainless steel vats, pre-frozen at −30 ° C. for 24 hours, and then freeze-dried (Kyowa Vacuum Engineering Co., Ltd. RLE-
21 type), frozen temperature -35 ℃, shelf heating temperature 40 ℃, 7
Drying was performed for 24 hours under a vacuum of 45 mmHg to obtain 2.8 kg of powdered lycopene (lycopene concentration: 5.2%). 2.8 kg of the obtained powdered lycopene was pulverized, 80% ethanol prepared using ethanol for food additives was added and mixed at room temperature, and the mixture was stirred for 30 minutes, washed, and then washed.
2μm microfiltration machine (Cefilt, manufactured by NGK Insulators, Ltd.)
The lycopene-containing non-permeable portion was separated at 0.35 m ² ).
The separated non-permeable portion was added with ethanol for the purpose of removing other carotenoids with a glass filter, and the mixture was stirred and suction-filtered. Next, benzene was eluted to recover lycopene.

The obtained benzene extract was treated with a 1 L rotary evaporator (manufactured by Shibata Scientific Instruments Co., Ltd.) at a liquid temperature of 3
The solution was concentrated under reduced pressure at 0 ° C., and the resulting concentrated lycopene solution 53 g was obtained.
Is dissolved in a 200 ml beaker with 75 ml of benzene,
Add 75 ml of methanol and stir well, The precipitate on the filter was dissolved in 200 ml of beaker with 50 ml of benzene, and 100 ml of methanol was added. The precipitate on the filter was washed with 50 ml of ethanol to obtain 51 g of a crystallized product.
The crystallized product on the filter paper is transferred to a wide-mouthed sample bottle containing a deoxygenating agent, covered with a 500 ml beaker, and dried under reduced pressure with a light-shielded suction bell for 24 hours to obtain 50 g of high-purity lycopene (lycopene purity: 95.3%). ) Got.

Example 4 (Production of Lycopene from Lycopene Concentrate) From 9 kg of lycopene concentrate (lycopene content: 0.45%), 1.5 kg of powdered lycopene was prepared by the above method, and 25 g of lycopene having a purity of 77.0% was purified. did. 1.6 kg of powdered lycopene was prepared from 10 kg of the lycopene concentrated liquid (lycopene content 0.4%) by the above-mentioned method, and 21 g of lycopene having a purity of 90.5% was purified. 83.8% purity for both
46 g of lycopene was obtained. 1.3 kg of powdered lycopene was prepared from 8 kg of lycopene concentrate (lycopene content 0.5%) to obtain 15 g of lycopene having a purity of 95.3%. 61 g of lycopene having a purity of 86.3% was obtained by blending with the above lycopene, filled in a brown bottle, replaced with nitrogen gas, and stored at -30 ° C. The purified lycopene was dissolved in benzene, and the absorption spectrum in the visible part was measured using a spectrophotometer.
Absorption maxima were observed at 0, 487 and 458 nm. The absorbance at 487 nm used for calculating the purity was 1.915. Table 1 shows the production results of the high-purity lycopene.

[0034]

[Table 1] Lycopene Refining Results

Experimental Example 1 (Single Dose Toxicity Test) Test Method: Five-week-old ICR / crj mice (average weight of male mice: 27 g, average weight of female mice: 22 g) were used for each group. The lycopene (purity 95.3%) prepared in (1) was orally administered orally at a rate of 2 g / kg of body weight, and observed for 14 days after the administration. Lycopene is
The solution was administered after being dissolved in olive oil, and as a control, only olive oil was administered to male and female mice. After the end of the experimental period, the pathological dissection of all cases was performed, and the presence or absence of abnormality in each organ of the whole body was confirmed. Test results: No animals died due to the administration of the substance, the male and female mice did not show any clinical symptoms, and showed a steady weight gain during the test period. In addition, no abnormalities were observed in the pathological anatomy of all cases after the test period.

Example 5 (Production of anti-cataract agent) An anti-cataract agent for internal use in the form of a tablet was produced by the usual method at the following compounding ratio (compounding amount per tablet). Lycopene (purity 95.3%) 20mg Lactose 80mg Starch 17mg Magnesium stearate 3mg

[0037]

According to the present invention, high-purity lycopene having a purity of 55% or more can be efficiently produced by means that is industrially easy to carry out. The lycopene obtained by the present invention can be suitably used as an anticataract agent, and can be widely used as a raw material or a raw material for foods, health foods, food additives, pharmaceuticals, or cosmetics.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Tadaaki Wakayama 4-13 Nihonbashi Koamicho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Japan Del Monte Co., Ltd. (72) Eiji Ishimura 4-13 Nihonbashi Koamicho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Japan Del Monte F-term (reference) 4B018 MD07 ME14 MF01 4C088 AB48 AC04 BA32 CA11 CA19 NA20 ZA33 4H006 AA02 AA03 AB20 AB27 AD15 AD17 BB11 BB14 BB30 BB42 BB43 BC33 BC51

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A method for producing high-purity lycopene, comprising the following steps using a processed tomato product as a raw material. (1) A step of centrifuging a processed tomato product, microfiltrating a suspension obtained by removing a precipitate, and collecting a non-permeate. (2) The step (1) of drying and pulverizing the obtained non-permeate. (3) 50% of the non-permeate powder obtained in the step (2) is used.
Washing with -100% by weight of a polar organic solvent. (4) a step of dissolving the washed non-permeate obtained in the step (3) in a nonpolar solvent, and then recrystallizing lycopene; (5) A step of washing the recrystallized lycopene obtained in the step (4) with a polar solvent. (6) A step of drying the washed lycopene obtained in the step (5). 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the polar solvent used for washing the dried product is 70 to
The method for producing high-purity lycopene according to claim 1, wherein the alcohol is 100% by weight of alcohols. 3. The process for producing high-purity lycopene according to claim 1, wherein the recrystallization is carried out by adding an alcohol in an amount of 50 to 200% by weight to the lycopene-containing nonpolar solvent. 4. The method for producing lycopene according to claim 1, wherein the polar solvent used for washing the recrystallized product is ethanol. 5. An anti-cataract agent containing lycopene obtained by the method according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 4.