Abstract: A rapid ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) method was developed for the determination of lutein in cell suspension cultures of Tagetes erecta L.. The samples were prepared by freeze-drying followed by extraction with methanol.The UPLC separation was achieved using a Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column (50 mm×2.1 mm,1.7 μm) at 25 ℃.The UPLC analysis was performed in the gradient elution mode,using acetonitrile-methanol (90:10,v/v) (A)-water (B) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min.The injection volume was 5 μL and the detection was carried out at 448 nm.A highly significant linear relationship between lutein concentration and peak area was observed over the concentration range from 1.56 to 25 mg/L.The proposed method was applied for the determination of lutein in the actual samples and recoveries were determined at three spiking concentrations.The recoveries ranged from 102% to 105% with relative standard deviations between 0.11% and 1.19%.The approach was found to be rapid,simple,and was suitable for the analysis of lutein in plant cell cultures to determine the lutein content of the biomass and the lutein productivity.

Key words: ultra-performance liquid chromatography, lutein, cell suspension cultures, Tagetes erecta L.