Vitamin E analysis by ultra-performance convergence chromatography and structural elucidation of novel α-tocodienol by high-resolution mass spectrometry

•A novel vitamin E component α-tocodienol was elucidated.•Vitamin E analysis by ultra-performance convergence chromatography.•Excellent chromatographic resolution and precision in retention time.•A rapid, simple, environmental friendly and economical analytical method.•Can be developed into a mainstream analytical technique.

We have developed a method for analysing vitamin E using ultra-performance convergence chromatography with a chromatographic runtime of 5.5 min. A well-resolved chromatogram with excellent precision in retention time revealed seven vitamin E components in the palm oil derived tocotrienol-rich fraction. The major vitamin E components were α-tocopherol, α-tocotrienol, γ-tocotrienol and δ-tocotrienol whereas the minor vitamin E components were α-tocomonoenol, β-tocotrienol and an unreported trace component. The new component was positively identified by high-resolution mass spectrometry as 2-methyl-2(4′,8′,12′-trimethyltrideca-7′,11′-dienyl)5,7,8-trimethylchroman-6-ol or α-tocodienol.