Wide-Bore Capillary Gas Chromatographic Method for Quantification of Cholesterol Oxidation Products in Egg Yolk Powder

A wide-bore capillary gas chromatographic (GC) method was developed for quantification of cholesterol oxidation products in egg yolk powder. Baseline separations were achieved between 7α- and 7β-hydroxycholesterol, cholesterol, cholesterol-5α,6α-epoxide, cholesterol-5β,6β-epoxide and 7-ketocholesterol chromatographed as the trimethylsilylated sterols. Excellent response linearity was obtained for each cholesterol oxidation product, permitting reliable quantification. Recoveries from freeze-dried egg yolk spiked with various levels of cholesterol oxidation products ranged from 78.2 to 95.1%. The coefficients of variation compared favorably to those for packed column GC methods.