Influence of Synthetic Antioxidants on Extraction of All- trans -Lutein from Spinach under Air and Nitrogen Atmosphere

Abstract

Extraction is most commonly used sample preparation technique in quantitative determination of all-trans-lutein in spinach. In our study RP-HPLC was applied to identify the constituents of spinach extract and to quantify all-trans-lutein content with the mobile phase consisted of acetone and water. Due to sensitivity of all-trans-lutein, we compared effects of different extraction conditions; air and nitrogen atmosphere and ethanol, ethanol with added 0.1% TBHQ and ethanol with added 0.1% BHT as solvents. Results for the all-trans-lutein content in the spinach samples and spinach samples with standard addition obtained in air and in nitrogen confirmed the induced degradation of all-trans-lutein in oxygen from the air. Ethanol containing synthetic antioxidant TBHQ under nitrogen atmosphere gave the highest yield of extraction and recovery of all-trans-lutein from spinach.