An improved high performance liquid chromatographic method for thiamin analysis in foods.

A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) procedure for the determination of thiamin in foods has been developed. Acid and enzymatic extracts of food samples were subjected to purification and chromatographic conditions which allowed the quantification of thiamin in foods with only a low content. Reverse-phase ion pair chromatography, using mixtures of sodium hexanesulfonate and sodium heptanesulfonate as counterions and detection at 254 nm, was employed. The lowest detection limit for thiamin was 0.5 ng/injection. Analyses of four samples of legumes and lyophilized meat and milk and the recovery for standard thiamin are given. Mean recovery values of extraction and purification procedure ranged over 97-98%.