Search

Highlights • Eight polyhydroxylated naphthoquinone compounds were identified from New Zealand sea urchin species Evechinus chloroticus. • Organic solvent extraction was better in extracting PHNQ than the macroporous resins. • The stability of the E. chloroticus PHNQ pigments is reported for the first time. • The degradation of amino PHNQ under the natural light was more remarkable than PHNQ pigments. Abstract The extraction of polyhydroxylated naphthoquinone (PHNQ) pigments from the shell and spines of the New Zealand sea urchin Evechinus chloroticus was evaluated using six different macroporous resins as an alternative to using organic solvent extraction alone. Four of the resins evaluated in this study (D4006, D4020, D101 and NKA-9) provided the best extraction of PHNQ pigments in terms of the overall adsorption and desorption of E. chloroticus PHNQ pigments from the resins. Organic solvents alone had a higher yield of PHNQs than the resins. The PHNQ composition was characterised by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode‐array detection and mass spectrometry. Five PHNQ compounds (spinochromes E, B, C, A and echinochrome A), and three aminated PHNQ compounds (spinamine E, echinamines A and B) were identified. The pigments were found to be prone to degradation on exposure to light, with the aminated PHNQ pigments being the least stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]