Analysis of selected phenolic compounds by MECC and HPLC. A comparative study

Two methods of analysis, micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography ( MECC) and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), were developed for the separation and determination of selected phenolic co mpounds (caffeic acid, catechin, catechol, chlorogenic acid, 3,4-dihydroxyp henylacetic acid, hydroquinone, 4-methylcatechol and vanillin) of nutrition al and pharmacological interest. Analytes were detected with UV absorption at lambda(max) 280 and 320 nm. Although catechin and 3-4,dyhidroxyphenylace tic acid showed peak distortion when analyzed by MECC, this technique showe d a faster separation ability when compared to RP-HPLC. Moreover, MECC prov ed to be a powerful tool for the repeatable and reliable quantification of phenolic compounds providing better linearity and area calculation, while R P-HPLC provided the better results in terms of elation time repeatability. Finally, concentration sensitivity in MECC (101-432 mu M) were 10(3) times higher than that of RP-HPLC (90-532 nM). However, both methods had similar minimum detectable mass sensitivity (range: 0.31-2.15 ng) for the selected phenolic compounds.