Rapid assay of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in edible oils by HPLC with FLD detection without clean-up

Ye YU, Qinze Jin and Xing Guo

Abstract

This study describes a simple and rapid analytical method for the determination and quantification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in edible oils. After dissolution in tetrahydrofuran, edible oil samples were detected by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). PAHs had a linear response at 0.5-50 mg/L with correlation coefficients >0.999. The PAH recoveries were 87.6-98.7%. The detection limits and quantification limits were 0.07–0.61 mg/kg and 0.23–2.04 mg/kg, respectively. The developed method was used for the determination of PAH content in 116 edible oils. Compared to the traditional method, this HPLC-based method is fast and reduces solvent waste. The recoveries of low molecular mass PAHs were significantly improved without any evaporation or concentration steps.