Determination of sesamin and sesamolin by using HPLC with an internal standard

Major lignans in sesame seeds are sesamin and sesamolin. Numerous studies have reported that these lignans have physiological functions. However, there are few researches regarding the methods for quantification of sesamin and sesamolin. Thus, the results varied significantly due to the different quantitative methods used in reported studies. In the present study, we used naphthalene as an internal standard to establish an HPLC method to quantify the contents of sesamin and sesamolin. The results of validation experiments indicated that this quantitative method developed in this study could provide a reasonable method for determination of sesamin and sesamolin with high recoveries, accuracy and precision. It takes 25 minutes to finish one analysis. The LOQ of sesamin is 75 μg/L, and the LOQ of sesamolin is 150 μg/L. We also used this method to determine the sesamin and sesamolin contents of the commercial products, and compared with their labeled amounts. This method could be a reference for the industry and authorities to regulate the lignan contents in sesame-related commercial products.