RAPID METHOD OF QUANTIFICATION OF CHLOROPHYLLS AND CAROTENOIDS IN VIRGIN OLIVE OIL BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

The fatty material of olive oil was separated, yielding a fat-free concentrate of pigments, by solid-phase extraction on octadecyl (C18) columns. The study of recovery carried out with lutein and pheophytin a gave an excess error lower than 4%. A total of 17 pigments was separated from this extract and quantified by HPLC using a reversed-phase C18 column. The method consisted of an elution gradient of 2 mL/min of water-ionic reagent-methanol (1:1:8) and methanol-acetone (1:1). Detection was performed by absorption at 410 and 430 nm and quantification from the straight lines of calibration of each analytically pure standard. The application of this technique to five monovariety virgin olive oils showed that pigment content among them is very different, depending on the variety of olive.