Tocopherol content of seaweed and seaweed meal: I.—Analytical methods and distribution of tocopherols in benthic algae

A rapid and reliable method for identification and quantitative determination of algal tocopherols has been developed. The algal tocopherols are separated from each other and from other lipids by circular chromatography on paper which contains aluminium ox de. Based on this method the distribution of tocopherols in brown, red and green seaweeds was investigated. α-Tocopherol was the only tocopherol detectable in all algae except for those belonging to the Fucaceae family, which contained the γ and δ-homologues as well.