Purification of mupirocin
A method for purification of the antibiotic mupirocin (pseudomonic acid A) which comprises: a) Causing or allowing precipitation of mupirocin from an aqueous solution thereof; b) Recovering the precipitate; c) Dissolving the recovered precipitate in an organic solvent.
1. A method for purifying mupirocin, consisting essentially of:
a) precipitating mupirocin from an aqueous solution of mupirocin by adding an acid, wherein the pH of the aqueous solution during precipitation is in the range of 2.0 to 6.0; and
b) recovering a mupirocin precipitate from the aqueous solution.
2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the acid is selected from the group consisting of acetic acid; citric acid; sulfuric acid; and hydrochloric acid.
3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the aqueous solution of mupirocin is a clarified fermentation broth.
4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the mupirocin precipitate is recovered in step b) by centrifugation or filtration.
5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising one or more additional steps selected from the group consisting of: a decolourisation step; a step for removal of hydrophilic components; a concentration step; an evaporation step; a clarification step; a water removal step; a drying step; a filtration step; an extraction step; and a crystallization step.
6. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the fermentation broth is a filtered broth.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pH is in the range of 3.5 to 5.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pH is in the range of 4.2 to 4.6.
9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising c) dissolving the mupirocin precipitate in an organic solvent.
10. A method according to claim 9 , wherein, in step c), the organic solvent is a polar, water immiscible or moderately soluble organic solvent.
11. A method according to claim 10 , wherein the organic solvent is a ketone; an ester; an alkanol ; or a mixture comprising any combination of the foregoing solvents.
12. A method according to claim 10 , wherein the organic solvent is pure methyl isobutyl ketone.
13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the organic solvent is methyl isobutyl ketone, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, or a combination thereof.
14. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising d) recovering mupirocin from the organic solvent.
15. A method according to claim 14 , wherein mupirocin is recovered from the solvent by crystallization, optionally after water removal from the solvent.