Separation and identification of isomeric conjugated fatty acids by high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection

A simple, high-performance liquid chromatographic method is described for the separation of tetraenoic, trienoic and dienoic conjugated fatty acids on a Zorbax ODS reversed-phase column using acetonitrile/tetrahydrofuran (95∶5, vol/vol) at a flow rate of 1.2 mL/min as mobile phase. Also described is the separation of the isomeric conjugated fatty acids with acetonitrile/water/tetrahydrofuran (90∶90∶1, by vol) as mobile phase. The simultaneous detection and identification of the separated geometrical isomers in the eluant was accomplished using photodiode array detection.