Abstract
A method was developed for the determination of residual gossypol in edible cottonseed oil by high performance liquid chromatography. Gossypol in cottonseed oil was dissolved in n-hexane containing a little tetrahydrofuran, and then extracted with acetonitrile. The acetonitrile layer was concentrated and made up to volume with tetrahydrofuran. The test solution was injected into a high performance liquid chromatograph.
Recoveries of gossypol added to cottonseed oil at levels of 50 and 200μg/10g were 87.4 and 93.7%, respectively. In heating experiments (180°C for 5, 15 and 30 minutes), it was found that the amount of gossypol added to cottonseed oil decreased with heating time. By this method, no gossypol (less than 1μg/g) was detectable in commercial edible cottonseed oil.
