Chromatographic analysis of plant sterols in foods and vegetable oils

This paper reviews recently published chromatographic methods for the analy sis of plant sterols in various sample matrices with emphasis on vegetable oils. An overview of structural complexities and biological/nutritional asp ects including hypocholesterolemic activities of phytosterols is provided i n the Section 1. The principal themes of the review highlight the developme nt and application of chromatographic techniques for the isolation, purific ation, separation and detection of the title compounds. Pertinent gas chrom atographic and high-performance liquid chromatographic methods from the lit erature are tabulated to illustrate common trends and methodological variab ility. The review also covers specific analyses of natural/synthetic standa rd mixtures to shed light on potential applicability in plant sample assays . Examples of combined chromatographic techniques linked in tandem for the analysis of complex samples are included. Elution characteristics of sterol components are discussed in the context of analyte substituent effects, st ructural factors and stationary/mobile phase considerations. Published by E lsevier Science B.V.