The lipophilicity of artificial and natural sweeteners estimated by reversed-phase thin-layer chromatography and computed by various methods.

The chromatographic behavior of some artificial and natural sweeteners was established by reverse phase high performance thin-layer chromatography (RP-HPTLC) on RP-18, RP-18W, RP-8, CN and NH(2) stationary phases. The mobile phases were mixtures of acetonitrile-water in different proportions of volume, chosen to create a suitable migration during the chromatographic process. The lipophilicity was described through different chromatographic descriptors such as R(M0), mean of R(M) (mR(M)), and scores of R(M) values corresponding to the first principal component (PC1/R(M)). In addition, scores and loadings resulting from covariance matrix of retention data enable new information about similarity and differences of investigated compounds and between both the stationary and mobile phases. The experimental lipophilicity indices estimated from retention data are directly correlated with the computed values, via computer software and internet module, at a high significant statistical level. Copyright 2010. Published by Elsevier B.V.