HPLC Determination of Vitamin E in Fortified Foods

Vitamin E is a generic name for at least eight tocol derivatives, four tocopherols and four tocotrienols (α-, β-, γ-, and δ-), which are naturally present in the free form. Free tocopherols, obtained from refining of vegetable oils and synthetic α- tocopherol, are added to foods to serve as antioxidants and, when added to provide a vitamin E value, α-tocopherol esters (acetate, succinate, and nicotinate) can also be used. Tocol derivatives can be analyzed by a wide range of high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods utilizing normal- and reversed-phase columns and different detectors (UV, fluorescence, electrochemical, and mass spectrometric). The choice of analytical method depends on the nature of the fortificant and the sample matrix.