Rapid determination of cholesterol in emulsified confectioneries by ultra-performance liquid chromatography

We developed a sample preparation method by using no-heating saponification after dispersive SPE and ultra-performance liquid chromatography for rapid determination of cholesterol in emulsified foods, such as cream pie, cream sandwich-type biscuit, plate chocolate, and chocobar. Optimum cholesterol extraction was obtained by using 10 mL isopropyl alcohol and 8.0 g (NH4)2SO4 per 1–2 g sample; saponification after extraction was performed using 25 mg KOH, 0.8 g NaCl, and 100 mg of a silica based NH2 SPE material. The determined cholesterol concentration was within certified reference material limits, and results of the recovery test were in the range of 97.4 to 104.8% with a relative standard deviation between 2.14 and 3.80%. Since our method had less sample preparation and chromatographic separation times, we expect our method to be used for effective quality control processes for monitoring cholesterol concentrations in confectioneries. Practical applications: A rapid analytical method for determining the cholesterol concentration in emulsified confectioneries was developed by using UPLC. The assessed cholesterol levels after comparing them with the CRMs were within the permissible range; results of the recovery tests performed using spiked materials ranged from 97.4 to 104.8% with RSD between 2.14 and 3.80%. Thus, our method could be used for accurate and precise determination of cholesterol concentration at low analysis and pretreatment time.