Novel solid-phase extraction method to separate 4-desmethyl-, 4-monomethyl-, and 4,4′-dimethylsterols in vegetable oils

Conventional methods for sterol fractions separation by TLC have some drawbacks such as low recovery and time consuming. A new solid-phase extraction (SPE) method was developed with stepwise elution by increasing the polarity of solvents mixture: n-hexane and diethyl ether. This method was applied to separate sterol fractions of hazelnut and virgin olive oils, and our results were compared with those of TLC method. The recovery of spiked authentic sample of 4-desmethylsterols in oil was higher with the SPE method (94%) compared with the TLC method (62%). The amount of 4,4′-dimethylsterols and 4-desmethylsterols separated with SPE in both hazelnut and virgin olive oil samples were at least 75% and 35%, respectively, higher than that of TLC. Generally, both methods obtained similar results for 4-monomethylsterols of the two oils. This new SPE method to separate phytosterol fractions was less time consuming, simpler and can be used instead of preparative TLC to detect adulteration of virgin olive oil with hazelnut oil.