High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of chlorophylls, pheophytins and carotenoids in virgin olive oils: chemometric approach to variety classification.

Abstract This work evaluate the possibility to get from the quali-quantitative determination of the pigments contained in monovarietal olive oils (chlorophylls, pheophytins and carotenoids) and from the multivariate statistical analysis of these measures, parameters able to distinguish within the cultivars. The chemometric variables used have concurred to obtain preliminary interesting results. Liquid-phase distribution and solid-phase extraction/purification procedures has been compared: recoveries for both are resulted higher than 94% for all the pigment classes and the R.S.D. values were below 10%. HPLC analysis, allowing the simultaneous pigment determination, and fluorescence detection, allowing a better green pigments measure (detection limits from 5 to 80 ppb), are revealed a fundamental solution.