Rapid and Reproducible Determination of Tocopherols in Foods using High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Ethyl Acetate/n-Hexane Extraction

Abstract

A rapid and reproducible procedure using triplicate extraction system with ethyl acetate/n-hexane (1 : 9) after saponification, is described for the determination of tocopherols (Tocs) in foods by the high performance liquid chromatography. The results obtained by the proposed procedure were comparable to those by the procedure using the ethyl ether extraction system. Recoveries of Tocs from pork separable fat were 97.5% for α-Toc, 97.9% for β-Toc, 97.7% for γ-Toc, 97.7% for δ-Toc. The coefficients of variation for α-, β-, γ- and δ-Tocs were 2.8%, 4.4%, 2.6% and 1.4% in 10 replicated analyses of mayonnaise, respectively.