Several studies have demonstrated a high association between dietary intake or plasma levels of carotenoids and the decrease of risk or the protection against some diseases. Taking this into consideration, as well as the high susceptibility of these compounds to light and heat, leading to the formation of cis isomers with lower biological activity, it is important to develop systems that allow the separation of such compounds in foods. This work evaluated the separation of the geometric isomers of lycopene and of the position isomers, lutein and zeaxanthin, by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using C18 (monomeric, 4 mm, 300 x 3.9 mm) and C30 (polymeric 3 mm, 250 x 4.6 mm) columns and many different mobile phases, with either isocratic or gradient elution. The carotenoids were identified by their spectral characteristics and co-chromatography with standards. The best chromatographic conditions were achieved with the C30 column, temperature set at 33 ºC and as mobile phase an isocratic elution of methanol (0.1% triethylamine)/tert-butyl methyl ether (50:50) to separate lycopene isomers and (95:5) for lutein and zeaxanthin, both at 1 mL/min. However, for quantitative analysis, it is necessary to evaluate the peak area repeatability on the C30 column. In addition, the monomeric C18 column can be employed for separation of lutein and zeaxanthin.
Lycopene; Isomers; Lutein; Zeaxanthin; HPLC; C30 column; C18 column
