Abstract:

A novel method has been established for the rapid separation and determination of 3 antioxidants (TBHQ, BHA and
BHT) in foods. The target analytes were extracted with hexane-saturated acetonitrile and the extract was purified by gel permeation
chromatography (GPC). The analytes were separated on a TR-35ms column (30 m × 0.25 mm, 0.25 μm) and detected by tandem
mass spectrometry with EI under multiple reaction-monitoring (MRM) mode. An excellent linearity (r ＞ 0.99) was observed in
the concentration range of 0.05 to 10 mg/L for each antioxidant. The recovery rates ranged from 77.6% to 95.4% at three
levels of 0.5, 1.0 mg/L and 2.0 mg/L, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 2.7%－8.5%. The limits of detection were
0.03－0.1 mg/kg (n = 3) for these analytes. The established method is rapid, precise, sensitive, efficient and applicable for
the analysis of TBHQ, BHA and BHT in foods.

Key words: gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, gel permeation chromatography, antioxidants