A rapid high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of sinapine and sinapic acid in Canola seed and meal

A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method has been developed to separate sinapine and sinapic acid from other phenolics in canola seed and meal in a single run. The separation was achieved with a reverse-phase C18 column. Owing to the higher recovery of phenolics and ease of use, refluxing with 100% methanol for 20 min was selected as the extraction method for HPLC analysis and determination of total phenolics using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent. A 10-min isocratic/linear/concave gradient and a 15-min isocratic/ linear gradient were selected as the best gradients for the separation of these phenolic compounds. Peak identities for sinapine and sinapic acid were verified with ion exchange separation followed by HPLC analysis. The method was calibrated using sinapine bisulfate and sinapic acid standards; correlation coefficients (R-2) for the calibration curves were 0.997 and 0.999 for sinapine bisulfate and sinapic acid, respectively. The extinction coefficient of sinapine was determined to be 1.16 times that of sinapic acid at the detector wavelength (330 nm). Applying this method to routine canola phenolic analyses can greatly reduce the cost by simplifying the procedures and reducing the time required for each determination.