Simultaneous quantification of α-tocopherol and four major carotenoids in botanical materials by normal phase liquid chromatography–atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-tandem mass spectrometry

A rapid and sensitive method for the simultaneous quantification of α-tocopherol, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin in botanical materials has been developed using normal phase liquid chromatography–atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (NP-LC–APCI-MS/MS). A systematic extraction procedure for different botanical materials was described and the extraction solvents were matched with normal-phase LC requirement. Quantification was performed by using the external standards and standard calibration curves were linear between 35 and 8505 ng/mL for α-tocopherol, 64–15,552 ng/mL for β-carotene, 40–9720 ng/mL for β-cryptoxanthin, 70–17,010 ng/mL for lutein and 64–15,552 ng/mL for zeaxanthin with regression coefficient r2 > 0.9996. The limits of quantification (LOQ) were 35, 64, 40, 70 and 66 ng/mL for α-tocopherol, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin, respectively.