Alpha‐Tomatine Purification and Quantification in Tomatoes by HPLC

ABSTRACT A high‐performance liquid chromatographic procedure was developed for purification and quantification of α‐tomatine from tomatoes. A crude preparation of glycoalkaloids from tomato fruits was fractionated on a column of Nucleosil NH 2 (10 μm), and eluted with a mixture of tetrahydrofuran/acetonitrile/0.02 M KH 2 PO 4 (50/30/20, v/v/v). The column effluent was monitored at 205 run. Total analysis of α‐tomatine was completed in < 10 min. It was present at highest concentrations in fruit at the mature‐green stage but its level decreased rapidly as fruit approached full maturity. The technique should be useful for analysis of α‐tomatine in biological samples.