Separation and Determination of cis-β-Carotene and trans-β-Carotene by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method using a general ODS column (YMC PACK ODS-A) was established for separation and determination of cis-β-carotene, trans-β-carotene and α-carotene.cis-β-Carotene, trans-β-carotene and α-carotene were separated on an ODS column (5μm, 4.6×250mm) with a mobile phase that consisted of methyl alcohol-acetonitrile-n-hexaneethyl ether (15:70:10:5). The flow rate was 1.0ml/min, and the detection wavelength was 453nm. Then α-carotene and traps-β-carotene contents were calculated according to calibration curves obtained by the internal standard (β-apo-8′-carotenal) method. Total carotene was determined with a mobile phase that consisted of benzene-n-hexane (1:5).