[Determination of alliin and its related substances in garlic using pre-column derivatization and reversed-phase high...

A reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic method with pre-column derivatization for the determination of alliin and its related substances, which are the precursors of garlic's active components, was established. Alliin was derivatized with 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimicly carbamate (AQC). The reaction of derivatization was very fast and the derivative was stable. The analysis was carried out on a Kromasil C18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 microm) with a gradientelution and detection at 248 nm. The mobile ph ase consisted of 0.1% acetamide (0.03% acetic acid) (A) and the mixture of water and acetonitrile (40: 60, v/v) (B), and the flow rate was set at 1.0 mL/min. The linear calibration was found for alliin within the range of 1.171 9 -1 500 microg/mL (r = 0.999 8). The inter-day and intra-day precision were good with relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 1.8% (n = 5). The recovery was 99.1% with the RSD of 1.9%. The limit of detection was 0.15 microg/mL. The method established is accurate, simple and rapid and suitable for the determination of alliin and related substances.