Determination of matairesinol in flax seed by HPLC with coulometric electrode array detection

A HPLC method coupled with coulometric electrode array detection for the determination of matairesinol in flax seed is described. The defatted sample was spiked with bisphenol A (internal standard), refluxed for 75 min in a mixture of ethanol-bidistilled water-12 M hydrochloric acid (2:2:1, v/v/v) to extract matairesinol conjugates and to hydrolyze them simultaneously. The extract was diluted with mobile phase [250 ml acetonitrile-750 ml buffer (730 ml bidistilled water, 20 ml glacial acetic acid adjusted to pH 3 with 5 M sodium hydroxide)] and injected into the HPLC system. Matairesinol was separated from other compounds on a reversed-phase column (Lichrospher 60 RP-Select B, 250 x 4 mm, 5 micro m) and detected in a coulometric electrode array detector using a flow-rate of 0.8 ml/min. The potentials of the eight electrodes were set on +150, +200, +250, +300, +350, +400, +550 and +600 mV against modified palladium electrodes. The content of matairesinol determined in seven samples varies between 7 and 28.5 micro g/g. The limit of quantitation is 5 micro g/g.