Separation of aromatic heptaene antibiotics by high-performance liquid chromatography.

Thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography have been used to separate and characterize representatives of the aromatic heptaene group of antifungal antibiotics. Most antibiotics were complex mixtures that could be placed in well defined groups. The identity of candicidin and levorin was confirmed in one group. Aureofungin, DJ400 and hamycin shared many components in common in the second group. The proportion of the individual components of lucknomycin and trichomycin was markedly different from each other and from the antibiotics in the other two groups. Lucknomycin stood out as the most homogeneous of the antibiotics examined.