Simultaneous determination of carbohydrates and simmondsins in jojoba seed meal (Simmondsia chinensis) by gas chromatography

Separate methods for the analyses of soluble carbohydrates in different plants and simmondsins in jojoba seed meal are described. A reliable gas chromatographic procedure for the simultaneous quantification of d-pinitol, myo-inositol, sucrose, 5-α-d-galactopyranosyl-d-pinitol, 2-α-d-galactopyranosyl-d-pinitol, simmondsin, 4-demethylsimmondsin, 5-demethylsimmondsin and 4,5-didemethylsimmondsin as trimethylsilyl derivatives in jojoba seed meal has been developed. The study of different extraction mixtures allowed for the quantitative recovery of the 9 analytes by a mixture of methanol–water (80:20, v/v) in the concentration range between 0.1 and 4%. Comparison of the separation parameters on three different capillary stationary phases with MS detection allowed for the choice of the optimal gas chromatographic conditions for baseline separation of the analytes.