Determination of vitamin E and carotenoid pigments by high performance liquid chromatography in shell of Chionoecetes opilio

This study reports the optimization of a method for the determination of vitamin E and carotenoids in shells of Chionoecetes opilio samples by online HPLC coupled with UV–vis and fluorescence detectors. The carotenoids were determined with diode-array detector (λ 450 nm) and vitamin E with fluorescence detection (λex 288, λem 331 nm).Two extractions methods were compared, saponification followed by an extraction step and a simple extraction with acetone. The last one was selected because allows to determine all compounds.Linearity, precisions and recoveries achieved for all compounds were satisfactory.Mean concentrations (mg per 100 g dry weight) were; 23.3 for vitamin E, 9.49 for astaxanthin and 0.2 mg for β-carotene.