The present invention is in the field of organic and natural product chemistry. The present invention relates to an efficient process for purification, simultaneous extraction, and separation of monohydroxycarotenoids from dihydroxycarotenoids in various natural products or in synthetic mixtures. Similarly, the process can also be applied to the simultaneous extraction, saponification, and separation of esterified mono- and dihydroxycarotenoids in natural products and their oleoresins or in their synthetic mixtures. Therefore, esterified and unesterified monohydroxycarotenoids such as (3R)-β-cryptoxanthin and (3R,6′R)-α-cryptoxanthin can be efficiently separated from their corresponding dihydroxycarotenoids such as (3R,3′R,6′R)-lutein and (3R,3′R)-zeaxanthin that are found in various plants or in synthetic mixtures.
