Determination and Characterization of Tocopherols in Vitamin E Extracted from Goat Milk

Abstract

Vitamin E was extracted from milk samples using saponification methods and the separation was achieved using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results from HPLC revealed that extracted vitamin E from milk existed in forms of α, β and δ tocopherols with α-tocopherol being the dominant form. The resulting vitamin E was characterized using UV-Visible and FTIR spectroscopy. A series of standard solution were prepared from the stock solution of 500 ppm vitamin E. From the Uv-visible, a maximum wavelength, λ_max obtained was 292.0 nm and the molar absorptivity calculated form graph 1 was 4220.8 L mol^-1 cm^-1. The FTIR spectra for both fresh vitamin E and oxidized vitamin E were compared and analysed. The spectrum for oxidized vitamin E showed similar absorption bands as fresh vitamin E except for C=O stretching which indicated that the oxidation process has occurred.