[Simultaneous determination of five carotenoids in tomato by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography]

A reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, gamma-carotene, lycopene and canthaxanthin in tomato has been developed. These carotenoids were extracted with acetone and petroleum ether (1:1) directly. The extract was dried by N2 stream. The residue was dissolved in methanol and separated on a micro-Bondapak C18 (Waters) column 150 mm x 3.9 mm i.d., acetonitrile:dichloromethane:methanol (85:10:5) as mobile phase. It was then detected at 450 nm by UV/VIS spectrophotometer. The retention times of alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, gamma-carotene, lycopene and canthaxanthin by simultaneous determination were 15.25, 16.12, 12.87, 10.38 and 5.37 min, respectively. Detection limits were 0.25, 0.22, 0.18, 0.14 and 0.05 mg/L. Recoveries were 92.38%, 94.33%, 92.40%, 93.21% and 96.40%, respectively. The coefficients of variation were 2.6%, 3.5%, 2.8%, 2.8% and 3.3%, respectively. The method was simple, rapid and accurate.