Abstract: Objective: This study aims to develop a reliable quantitative detection method of lycopene from tomato and processed products by C18-HPLC-PDA. Chromatographic conditions: stationary phase DIAMONSILTM column (Dikma Technologies, 250 ×4.6 mm, 5μm); mobile phase A acetonitrile-water (9:1); mobile phase B ethyl acetate; linear gradient: an increased mobile phase B from 0 to 100% (V/V) in 15 minutes followed by 100% B for 5 minutes; flow rate 1.0 ml/min; PDA wavelength range 260～ 600 nm; monitoring wavelength on chromatogram 471 nm; injection volume 20μl; column temperature: room temperature. Results: Minimum detection limit of this method is 0.10μg/ml. In the range of 0.10～25.60μg/ml, linear correlation coefficient between the concentration and peak area of lycopene fraction 0.9994 RSD 2.6%, recovery 99.3%. Conclusion: This method is reliable to detect lycopene amount from tomato and processed products quantitatively.

Key words: lycopene, quantitative analysis, HPLC