Ultrafast determination of vitamin E using LC-ESI-MS/MS for preclinical development of new nutraceutical formulations.

Aim: We proposed a rapid and high quality method to determine a-tocopherol (alpha-T) in different biopharmaceutical samples using liquid chromatography-diode array detector on-line ESI-MS/ MS. Materials & methods: Aworking standard solution of alpha-T and internal standard, phenyl-5,7-dimethyl-d6-alpha-tocopherol, were used for optimization and validation of the method. Levels of a-T in nanoemulsions, serum and plasma samples were evaluated. Results & conclusion: Precision (1% for retention time, 5% for peak area and 3% for relative peak area), linearity range (among 0.625-20.0 mu g ml(-1)), LOD and LOQ, accuracy and matrix effect were studied. The validated chromatographic method is presented as valuable analytical tool for the determination of a-tocopherol in loaded drug delivery systems and in biodistribution levels in blood samples.