Trace Analysis of Carotenoids and Fat-Soluble Vitamins in Some Food Matrices by LC-APCI-MS/MS

A sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous determination of four carotenoids (lutein, zeaxanthine, β-carotene, and lycopene) and nine compounds with fat-soluble vitamin activity (retinol, retinyl palmitate, -tocopherol, δ-tocopherol, -tocopherol, ergocalciferol, cholecalciferol, phylloquinone, and menaquinone-4) in various food matrices, namely maize flour, tomato pulp, and green and golden kiwi. Analytes were separated on a C30 reversed-phase column and unequivocally identified by atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry. The extraction procedure was based on matrix solid-phase dispersion with recoveries of all compounds under study exceeding 78, 80, and 57% from maize flour, tomato pulp, and kiwi, respectively. The coefficient of variation (CV) for method repeatability ranged between 3 and 7%, and the CV for intralaboratory precision was below 12%. The mild conditions of the extraction procedure precluded artifact creation, and the presence of geometric isomers of β-carotene in all samples analyzed and of lycopene in tomato pulp could be observed, but they could not be identified using the mass spectrometric detection only.