Abstract: A method was developed for the determination of benzopyrene by solid-phase extraction on a neutral Al2O3 cartridge coupled with ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC). Benzopyrene in samples were extracted into n-hexane, cleaned up, and concentrated by rotary evaporation and dissolved in n-hexane again before chromatographic separation and fluorescence detection. The mobile phase was acetonitrile-water (75:25, V/V) at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. Benzopyrene was quantified by external standard method. A good linear relationship between peak area and benzopyrene concentration was achieved in the range of 0.10－50.0 μg/L (R2 ＝ 0.9998). The mean spike recovery rates of benzopyrene at three concentration levels were in the range of 91.7%－97.5%, with relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 2%. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were 0.01 μg/kg and 0.03 μg/kg, respectively. The developed method is characteristics of simple operation, good reproducibility, high sensitivity, and rapid, reliable and suitable determination for benzopyrene in cooking oil.

Key words: solid-phase extraction (SPE), ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), fluorescence detection, benzopyrene, cooking oil