Reaction monitoring of tocopherols with active nitrogen oxides by ultra high-speed liquid chromatography.

Ultra high-speed liquid chromatography (LC) has become increasingly popular in analytical research fields. This analytical system provides fast and efficient chromatographic separation over a wide range of flow rate and pressure. In this study, we applied an ultra high-speed LC system to monitor the reaction of α-, γ-, and δ-tocopherols with active nitrogen species. By using an ultra high-speed LC system equipped with a photo-diode array detector, short time analysis and detection of a wide range of reaction products were accomplished efficiently. The analysis time of tocopherol and its major oxidation products were greatly shortened compared to conventional HPLC methods (more than 10 times). The ultra reversed-phase LC was demonstrated to be as a powerful tool for monitoring rapid oxidation reactions of tocopherols with active nitrogen species.