Modification of the AOAC gas-liquid chromatographic method for indole in shrimp: collaborative study

Several changes were suggested for standardization of the AOAC official final action gas chromatographic method for the determination of indole in shrimp. In a collaborative study, 3 FDA laboratories compared the modified method with the current method. At a 95% confidence level, the same results were obtained for each respective sample by the AOAC or the modified method, which had the following changes. The cleanup column was standardized by drying the silica gel for 2 h at 125 degrees C and equilibrating with 3 g of water/25 g of silica gel. Concentrated ethyl acetate shrimp extracts were treated with anhydrous sodium sulfate before column cleanup and indole was eluted from the column with 15% ethyl ether/hexane. A reduced amount of the internal standard, 2-methylindole, was used to improve peak height measurements at the 25 microgram% indole level. The modified method has been adopted official first action to replace method 18.075.