Simple high-performance liquid chromatography method for alpha-tocopherol measurement in Rosmarinus officinalis leaves. New data on alpha-tocopherol content.

A simple HPLC method for vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) measurement in the leaves of Rosmarinus officinalis has been developed and validated. It has enabled new data for alpha-tocopherol content to be established. The leaves, recently harvested, were dried in a microwave oven and crushed; then, alpha-tocopherol was directly extracted from portions of ground material with acetone, by probe sonication. After centrifugation the acetonic extract was analysed by HPLC with ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) added as internal standard and a gradient elution with a Nucleosil C18 column at 35 degrees C. Validation parameters of the method can be considered adequate. For standards: linearity is r=0.999, recovery is 100+/-2%, intra-assay precision has RSD=+/-3% and inter-assay precision has RSD=+/-6%. For samples: linearity is r=0.99, recovery: 93+/-7%, intra-assay precision has RSD=+/-4% and inter-assay precision has RSD=+/-7%.