In this work, the use of hydrophilic-interaction chromatography (HILIC) was thoroughly studied for the first time in order to separate and quantify essential amino acids. Some parameters, such as the composition of the mobile phase and the flow rates were studied. The detection limit, the linearity and the repetibility of this technique were also determined. The results showed that, comparing to other methods for analysing amino acids mixtures, this technique presented some advantages, in terms of time, economy and simplicity, since the pre-column derivatisation is not needed and an isocratic condition can also be used. The utilisation of this technique for analysing the chromatography fractions of casein hydrolysates showed the importance of HILIC in the nutritional evaluation of these preparations.
casein hydrolysates; essential amino acids; high performance liquid hydrophilic chromatography
