Simultaneous Analysis of Cholesterol Oxidation Products (COPs) in Powdered Milk Using HPLC/UV-Vis

Cholesterol and cholesterol oxidation products (COPs) may accumulate in foods of animal origin during processing or storage. An effective and sensitive analytical method was developed by increasing the UV absorption of compounds through derivatization by attaching a chromophore to the functional groups of cholesterols (cholesterol, 20-hydroxycholesterol, 7-ketocholesterol, cholestane-$3{\beta}$-$5{\alpha}$-$6{\beta}$-triol, 25-hydroxycholesterol, and $5,6{\alpha}$-epoxycholesterol). The influences of the reaction time, volume of reaction solvent, amounts of derivatizing reagent, and extraction solvents were investigated, as they may influence the reaction and extraction yield. The derivatized COPs were analyzed simultaneously on a C18 column (2.1 mm i.d. ${\times}$ 100 mm length, $3.5{\mu}m$ particle size) using a gradient elution with water and acetonitrile. The derivatized COPs showed increased sensitivity and selectivity in HPLC/UV-Vis. The LOD and LOQ were in the concentration ranges of 0.018-0.55 mg/kg and 0.059-1.84 mg/kg from the powdered milk. And the accuracy and precision were 78.1-116.7% and 1.1-9.9%, respectively.