Quantification of triacylglycerol molecular species in cocoa butter using high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with nano quantity analyte detector.

Triacylglycerol (TAG) molecular species were quantified through high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) equipped with a nano quantity analyte detector (NQAD). TAG standard compounds, i.e., 1,3-dipalmitoyl-2-oleoylglycerol (β-POP), 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-3-stearoyl-rac-glycerol (β-POS), and 1,3-distearoyl-2-oleoylglycerol (β-SOS), and natural cocoa butter were used for analyses. NQAD gave the first order equation passing through the origin for all TAG standard compounds. TAG molecular species in cocoa butter were quantified using the calibration curves and the obtained values were almost the same as the reported ones of conventional cocoa butter. Furthermore, a recovery test was also carried out and the values were almost 100. Therefore, HPLC-NQAD can be successfully used for the quantification of TAG molecular species in natural fats and oils.