[Simultaneous determination of three antioxidants BHA, BHT and TBHQ in food by liquid chromatography and gas chromatography].

OBJECTIVE: To develop a method for determining 3 kinds of antioxidants in food in same time with HPLC and GC. METHODS: Firstly, extracted fat with petroleum ether, then extracted antioxidants with 13 ml methnol, centrifuged, repeated the above procedure twice, combined the extracts, next evaporated to 5 ml, constanted volume to 10 ml, then kepted in freezer (- 1h), lastly, the supernatant injected into high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and Gas chromatography (GC) which had been optimized condition. RESULTS: The limits of quantitation for BHA,BHT and TBHQ were 0.002, 0.010 and 0.002g/kg respectively in HPLC, The limits of quantitation for BHA, BHT and TBHQ were 0.003, 0.002 and 0.005 g/kg respectively in GC, The mean recoveries at the two spiked levels were 82.8% - 109.0%. There were no significant difference between HPLC and GC. CONCLUSION: The method can be used to determine the antioxidants in food accurately and sensitively, the comparative results are constant between liquid and gas chromatography.