A rapid method for squalene determination in vegetable oils.

Abstract

A simple and rapid analytical method for the quantification of squalene in vegetable oils is described. The method consists of a cold alkaline methylation of the oil sample diluted with hexane followed by quantitation by gas chromatography with internal standard. A calibration curve obtained using different standard solutions, and coefficients of variation for three different samples with high, medium and low content of squalene, are reported.