Simultaneous quantification of alpha-tocopherol and four major carotenoids in botanical materials by normal phase liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-tandem mass spectrometry.

A rapid and sensitive method for the simultaneous quantification of alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin in botanical materials has been developed using normal phase liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (NP-LC-APCI-MS/MS). A systematic extraction procedure for different botanical materials was described and the extraction solvents were matched with normal-phase LC requirement. Quantification was performed by using the external standards and standard calibration curves were linear between 35 and 8505 ng/mL for alpha-tocopherol, 64-15,552 ng/mL for beta-carotene, 40-9720 ng/mL for beta-cryptoxanthin, 70-17,010 ng/mL for lutein and 64-15,552 ng/mL for zeaxanthin with regression coefficient r2 > 0.9996. The limits of quantification (LOQ) were 35, 64, 40, 70 and 66 ng/mL for alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin, respectively.