Rapid determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in natural tocopherols by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

Yiwen Yang; Xinyan Dong; Micong Jin; Qilong Ren

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2008.01.062

Rapid determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in natural tocopherols by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

Food Chem. 2008 Sep 1;110(1):226-32. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2008.01.062. Epub 2008 Feb 6.

Authors

Yiwen Yang¹, Xinyan Dong², Micong Jin³, Qilong Ren⁴

Affiliations

¹ National Laboratory of Secondary Resources Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China. Electronic address: ceywyang@zju.edu.cn.
² National Laboratory of Secondary Resources Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China; College of Chemical Engineering, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China.
³ National Laboratory of Secondary Resources Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China; Ningbo Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Ningbo 315010, China.
⁴ National Laboratory of Secondary Resources Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.

PMID: 26050187
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2008.01.062

Abstract

A simple and rapid method has been developed and validated for the determination of seventeen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in natural tocopherol products. Samples were dissolved in n-hexane, cleaned by an alumina column, and separated and determined by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. The recoveries were greater than 77.9%, except for the lowest molecular weight PAHs (Na, 1-Me, 2-Me, AC, F) which were between 15.9% and 75.8%. The limits of quantification were less than 0.38ng/g for the heavy PAHs and less than 1.50ng/g for the light PAHs. Good repeatabilities were achieved with RSD less than 10.7% for all the objective compounds. This method has been applied to evaluating PAHs contents in various natural tocopherol products and controlling natural tocopherol product quality.

Keywords: Alumina column; HPLC; Natural tocopherol; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.