TOCOPHEROL MICRO-EXTRACTION METHOD WITH APPLICATION TO QUANTITATIVE-ANALYSIS OF LIPOPHILIC NUTRIENTS

A method proposed for determining vitamin E consists of extraction with n-hexane/2-propanol and separation by normal-phase HPLC. It was used to monitor tocopherol content of eggs metabolically enriched with vitamin E. It accurately evaluated nutritional uniformity of many samples in a relatively short time. Chromatographic resolution showed alpha-tocopherol as the only major peak in the enriched eggs. Quantification with HPLC or GC demonstrated that the extraction technique could also be used to determine cholesterol and fatty acids. Results from eggs containing varied ratios of fatty acids indicate that the method did not differentially extract different types of fatty acids.