Determination of lutein in infant formula milk powder using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography

An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (U-HPLC) method for the determination of lutein in the infant formula milk powder was developed. The sample was extracted with acetone and defatted using freezing centrifugation method. The U-HPLC separation was achieved using a YMC Carotenoid C30 column (150 mm x 4.6 mm, 3 microm) with the mixture of methanol/methyl tert-butyl ether (70: 30, v/v) as the mobile phase under isocratic elution. The flow rate was 0.5 mL/min and the column oven temperature was 25 degrees C. The injection volume was 5 microL. It was detected on a photodiode array detector at a wavelength of 445 nm. The results showed that the linear range was 20-500 microg/L (r = 0.9999), and the limit of quantification was 20 microg/L. The mean recoveries of lutein varied from 97.9% to 104.4% spiked at 50, 250 and 2,000 microg/kg. The established method is simple, accurate and sensitive for the rapid determination of lutein in infant formula milk powder.