Determination of lipoic acid in meat of commercial quality.

For the quantitative determination of lipoic acid in meat a sensitive GC/MS method in the chemical ionisation mode with methane as reactant gas has been developed. Firstly, the cleavage of protein-bound lipoic acid from the epsilon-amino group of lysine residues was optimized by hydrolysing the synthesized model compound epsilon-lipoyllysine with several organic and inorganic acids and proteolytic enzymes. The concentrations of lipoyllysine and lipoic acid during this test hydrolysis were monitored by HPLC. Optimum hydrolytic conditions were heating at 120 degrees C in 2 mol H2SO4 for seven hours. After tissue hydrolysis, the lipoic acid in the hydrolysate was separated by a diethylether/sodium bicarbonate/diethylether extraction and then derivatised for GC with MBDSTFA. The highest amounts of lipoic acid in meat of commercial quality were detected in liver, heart and kidney whereas in muscle tissues its content was lower.