Isolation of carotenoid crystals

摘要

Described is a crystalline carotenoid compound, such as beta -carotene, with a purity of at least 95 % and with substantially no solvent enclosed in the crystal lattice. Also described is a process to prepare such a highly pure crystalline carotenoid compound from microbial biomass, without the use of a solvent extraction and/or an anti- solvent crystallization process.