Analysis of triacylglycerol positional isomers in food products as brominated derivatives by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a flame ionization detection

Reversed-phase HPLC resolution and HPLC–flame ionization detection quantitation of model triacylglycerol positional isomer pairs (important in the study of food formulation lipids) after facile conversion to brominated derivatives is reported. The positional isomers in the triacylglycerol pairs were at least 98% resolved from each other during reversed-phase HPLC. Triacylglycerol quantitation obtained by HPLC–flame ionization detector was checked against standard positional isomer pairs known by mass. The flame ionization detection area percent gave absolute error range of 0.3–1.6% per triacylglycerol.