Determination of Water Soluble Vitamins in Laboratory Animal Feeds by Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography

Seven water-soluble vitamins: thiamine hydrochloride (B₁), riboflavin hydrochloride (B₂), pyridoxine hydrochloride (B₆), calcium pantotenate (B₅), ascorbic acid (C), folic acid (B₉), and biotin (H, B₇) were separated using the micellar electrokinetic chromatographic (MEKC) method in a single run with the electrolyte solution consisting of 100 mM H₃BO₃, 5 mM Na₂B₄O₇, and 30 mM sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS). The separation was achieved within 8 min. and the detection was performed at 200 nm. The calibration graphs plotted with six concentrations of each vitamin were linear with the determination coefficient r > 0.999. The method was applied for quantification of vitamins B₁, B₂, B₅, B₆, B₉, C, and H in novel feed for laboratory animals. The sample preparation involved solid-phase extraction of the vitamins, used prior to the MEKC analysis. The attained precision level was good with the recoveries between 98.4% and 105.6%. The simplicity of the procedure should make it highly useful for feed quality control in husbandry and the animal feed industry.