Gas chromatographic determination of cholesterol and tocopherols in edible oils and fats with automatic removal of interfering triglycerides.

E Ballesteros, M Gallego, M Valcárcel

Index: J. Chromatogr. A. 719(1) , 221-7, (1996)

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Abstract

An automated gas chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of cholesterol, alpha-tocopherol and alpha-tocopheryl acetate in edible oils and fats without derivatization is reported. Interferences from lipid material are avoided by using a continuous system to transesterify triglycerides with potassium methylate in methanol. The precision of the method is 1.9, 2.2 and 3.1% for cholesterol, alpha-tocopherol and alpha-tocopheryl acetate, respectively. The proposed methods was validated by analysing a standard reference material of coconut oil (SRM 1563-2) with good results. The method features a high throughput, minimal sample handling and analyte specificity (lipid material does not interfere).