PROCESS FOR PRODUCING HIGH-PURITY EICOSAPENTAENOIC ACID OR ESTER THEREOF.

摘要

Eicosapentaenoic acid or an ester thereof, having a purity as high as at least 99 % and being useful for preventing or treating thrombosis, can be obtained in a recovery of 55 % or above by subjecting a mixture of fatty acids or esters thereof obtained from a natural fat or oil containing eicosapentaenoic acid or derivatives thereof to precise fractional distillation in a high vacuum by using a number of, particularly at least three, distillation columns to obtain a fraction mainly comprising C20 fatty acids or esters thereof, and subjecting this fraction to reversed phase column chromatography for fractional purification.