A rapid separation of ten carotenoids, three retinoids, alpha-tocopherol and d-alpha-tocopherol acetate by high performance liquid chromatography and its application to serum and vegetable samples

Abstract

The methods described herein were developed for the quantitative analysis of 10 carotenoids (lutein, zeaxanthin, canthaxanthin, beta-apo-8′carotenal, beta-cryptoxanthin, echinenone, lycopene, gamma-carotene, alpha-carotene, beta-carotene/15-cis-beta-carotene), 3 retinoids (retinol, retinyl acetate, retinyl palmitate) and alpha-tocopherol and d-alpha-tocopherol acetate with two-channel detection and a single sample preparation. Two fast and simple methods are described using a Spheri-5-RP-18 column, with two different mobile phases-acetonitrile:dichloromethane:methanol (70:20:10) in 10 minutes and acetonitrile:methanol (85:15) in 25 minutes. These methods would be beneficial to food scientists, cancer researchers and epidemiologists for the accurate estimation of vitamin A activity and the antioxidant capability of different compounds present in the human diet and the levels of these compounds in human serum.