| Abstract: | The influence of cationic and anionic surfactants and short‐chain alcohols in the mobile phase on the retention of five antioxidants has been studied. The solutes chosen were butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), and propyl, octyl, and dodecyl gallates (PG, OG, DG).The surfactants were hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and n‐propanol (PrOH) was the selected alcohol. A simple isocratic reversed‐phase method for the antioxidant determination is proposed. Separation of five primary antioxidants takes 18 min with the mobile phase SDS 0.10 M/H3PO4 0.01 M/PrOH 30%. Variation of the percentage of alcohol in the mobile phase permits optimization of the retention times of the antioxidants. Detection limits in the pg range were obtained for the all solutes. The method was used to determine the antioxidants in olive oil at three different levels, giving mean recoveries close to 100% for all the solutes (BHA 102%, PG 99%, OG 99%, DG 99%) except BHT (84%). |
