RAPID-DETERMINATION OF SKATOLE AND INDOLE IN PIG BACK FAT BY NORMAL-PHASE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

A rapid normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method fo r the quantitative determination of indole and skatole in pig back fat samples has been developed. The compounds were extracted by shaking t hr samples at ambient temperature in hexane-3-propanol (92:8. v/v). Th e sample preparation procedure was simple because it was not necessary to remove the fat from the samples. The compounds were separated on a 250x4.6 mm I.D., 5 mu m Hypersil aminopropylsilica column. Fluorescen ce (excitation at 280 nm and emission at 360 nm) was used for selectiv e detection. Recoveries for skatole and indole, relative to the intern al standard, were 100.3+/-0.9% and 99.6+/-4.4%, respectively. Linearit y determined in fat samples was in the range of 0.05-1 mu g/g and the correlations observed were R-2=0.9914 for indole and R-2=0.9916 for sk atole. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.