Investigation of a simple gas chromatographic method to determine butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) in breakfast cereal

Date

5-2005

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Chemistry

College

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Lilibath dlC Coo

Abstract

Food containing fats and oils are prone to lipid oxidation, which can promote off-flavors and limit shelf-life. To inhibit lipid oxidation, antioxidants can be added to products. Phenolic antioxidants, including butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate (PG), and tert-butyl hydroxyquinone (TBHQ), are used in a variety of products. Some of these antioxidants, BHA and BHT specifically, are suspected carcinogens. Breakfast cereal, commonly eaten in the morning and as a snack, utilizes BHT as a preservative. Quantification is therefore done to identify how much of the BHT is present in the product and to determine whether the quantity is within the limit of acceptable daily intake. Common methods of quantification are through the use of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC). A simple GC method was found for chewing gum wherein direct injection was used as a quick method for quantifying the amount of BHT. The said method is then tested to see if it would work for breakfast cereal samples. Samples were prepared by weighing 20 g of moisture-free ground breakfast cereal and 30 ml of diethyl ether was added. The mixture was sonicated for 5 minutes. The mixture was filtered and the filtrate was directly injected in the gas chromatograph for analysis. Quantitation was made using the least square method. Initial runs produced good results but subsequent runs gave results that exhibit poor precision. Possible causes of the inconsistencies were investigated in this study.

Language

English

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

Thesis

Document Type

Thesis

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