summary

　　At present, there are two ways to produce astaxanthin: artificial synthesis and biological acquisition. Synthetic astaxanthin is not only expensive, but also significantly different from natural astaxanthin in structure, function, application and safety

In terms of structure

　　With the rise of natural astaxanthin, the management of chemically synthesized astaxanthin has become more and more strict around the world. For example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has prohibited chemically synthesized astaxanthin from entering the health food market. At present, the production of astaxanthin generally tends to develop the biological (plant) source of natural astaxanthin, and thus carry out large-scale production.

    Due to the optical activity of hydroxyl (-oh) at both ends, astaxanthin has three types: 3s-3's, 3r-3's and 3r-3'r (also known as left-handed, racemic and right-handed)Among them, the synthetic astaxanthin is a mixture of three kinds of astaxanthin (left-handed 25%, right-handed 25% and racemic 50%), with little antioxidant activity, which is quite different from the astaxanthin in salmon and other cultured organisms (mainly in trans structure - 3s-3s). The astaxanthin from yeast is 100% right-handed (3r-3'r), with partial antioxidant activity; Astaxanthin from the above two sources is mainly used for coloring non edible animals and materials. Only algae derived astaxanthin is 100% levo (3s-3's) structure and has the strongest biological activity. After years of research, large enterprises such as Cyanotech, Fuji and Yamaha have been used as human health food, high-grade cosmetics and drugs.

In terms of physiological function

　　The stability and antioxidant activity of synthetic astaxanthin are also lower than that of natural astaxanthin. Because the hydroxyl (-oh) at both ends of astaxanthin molecule can be esterified, resulting in different stability, natural astaxanthin is more stable in the form of esterification, and synthetic astaxanthin exists in free state, so the stability is different. Synthetic astaxanthin must be embedded to be stable. As synthetic astaxanthin has only about 1/4 left-handed structure, its antioxidant activity is only about 1/4 that of natural astaxanthin.

In application effect

　　artificialastaxanthinThe bioabsorption effect of astaxanthin is also worse than that of natural astaxanthin. When the feeding concentration is low, the concentration of artificial astaxanthin in the blood of rainbow trout is significantly lower than that of natural astaxanthin, and it cannot be transformed into natural configuration in vivo. Its coloring ability and biological potency are much lower than that of natural astaxanthin of the same concentration.

In terms of Biosafety

　　When astaxanthin is synthesized by chemical means, it will inevitably introduce impurities, such as unnatural by-products, which will reduce its bioavailability safety.

With the rise of natural astaxanthin, the management of chemically synthesized astaxanthin has become more and more strict around the world. For example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has prohibited chemically synthesized astaxanthin from entering the health food market. At present, the production of astaxanthin generally tends to develop the biological (plant) source of natural astaxanthin, and thus carry out large-scale production.