11 November 2014 3 9K Report

I have been trying to quantify oleic acid by HPLC using this protocol derived from the www.cyberlipid.org website.

Dissolve oleic acid standard in 0.5ml methanol (concentration range from 2mg/ml to 62.5μg/ml). Add 5μl of dilute phenolphthalein solution and raise pH with 0.2M KOH in methanol until colour change (pH9.8). Evaporate solvent under nitrogen.

Add 0.1ml 2mM 18-crown-6 ether in acetonitrile and 0.1ml of 2,4'-dibromoacetophenone (cyberlipid didn't give a concentration: I used 20mg/ml). Heat at 80°C for 15 minutes. Carry out separation on C18 column using 80% acetonitrile. Detect at 242nm.

I get several peaks ranging from about 1 to 7 minutes, but none corresponded to the putative concentration of oleic acid, which makes me think the derivatisation method is not working. Can anyone tell me what I should be doing, please?

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