Abstract
Sterols play an essential part in physiological activities of almost all creatures. However, there is a lack of a widely applicable routine method to investigate various sterols with both saturated and unsaturated forms in diversiform food materials. In this study, a new UPLC-MS/MS method with wider extensive applicability has been developed to fill this blank, which is considered time and cost saving, and can improve labor efficiency. The Agilent Eclipse Plus C18 column and methanol-water gradient elution system were employed to improve the separation at 40 °C and the flow rate was 0.5 mL/min. The method validation parameters include precision, recovery, linearity, and limit of detection and quantification (LOD and LOQ). The recoveries of sterols in all food matrices and the inter-day and intra-day precisions represented by RSDs were all within the recommended range of chemical analysis. The LODs and LOQs in different types of samples were in range of 0.0036–0.68 μg/mL and 0.01–2.0 μg/mL, respectively. All the results demonstrated that this method was sensitive and accurate enough. Additionally, the acid hydrolysis was found closely related to the degradation of unsaturated sterols in the pretreatment.
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