K. Ward et al., A COMPARISON OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY AND SPECTROPHOTOMETRY TO MEASURE CHLOROPHYLL IN CANOLA SEED AND OIL, Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, 71(9), 1994, pp. 931-934
There are several methods available to measure chlorophyll in canola o
il and seed, and these will not necessarily yield the same results and
should not be used interchangeably. Total chlorophyll was determined
for samples of canola seed and commercial canola oil by recognized spe
ctrophotometric methods and by high-performance liquid:chromatography
(HPLC). The HPLC method, which summed all chlorophyll related pigments
detected, found approximately 1.4 times more total chlorophyll per sa
mple than did the spectrophotometric methods. The spectrophotometric m
ethods are calibrated with only chlorophyll a and underestimate other
chlorophyll pigments, which have lower extinction coefficients and dif
ferent absorption maxima. The HPLC method detects each pigment at its
absorption maxima and applies the appropriate absorptivity factor. Car
e must be taken when comparing results obtained by different methods.
There appears to be a need for a standardized method of chlorophyll pi
gment measurement by HPLC.