The labile nature of marine products presents challenges that are not apparent with many other natural products. Sensitivity to light, oxidation and temperature place constraints on the separation and purification techniques that can be employed.
Many products are present as geometric or chiral isomers, with differing biological activities.
The natural products thus differ in isometric composition from their chemically synthesized counterparts. The objectives of this thrust are to provide separation and purification technologies for marine bioproducts that have broad applicability. While separation of optical isomers can be accomplished on an analytical scale, efforts to develop larger scale approaches are still in their infancy. Geometric isomers present more complex issues and MarBEC's efforts here will help establish approaches to develop new separations techniques.