Rapid gas chromatographic method for simultaneous determination of cholesterol and alpha-tocopherol in eggs

A new method was developed for simultaneous determination of cholesterol an d alpha-tocopherol in eggs. It involves rapid and simple sample preparation accomplished in one tube and chromatographic separation that does not requ ire derivatization of analytes. Total analysis time per sample is 40 min. L abor, cost, and use of hazardous chemicals are minimized. To ensure selecti vity, accuracy, and precision, critical analytical parameters were investig ated. Overall recoveries were 98.8 and 99.2% for cholesterol and alpha-toco pherol, respectively. Linearity was acceptable for both analytes (r = 0.996 4 for cholesterol and 0.9996 for alpha-tocopherol) in the fortification ran ge examined. Precision data based on within-day and between-days variation gave overall relative standard deviations of 2.0% for cholesterol and 7.0% for alpha-tocopherol. The method was applied successfully for quantitation of cholesterol and alpha-tocopherol in eggs.