Profiling and quantitative determination of polar lipids in milk by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled to evaporative-light scattering and mass spectrometry detection

In this work, a high-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detection method has been developed and applied for quantification of the polar content of the lipid fraction in milk samples of different origin. From a chromatographic stand-point, a 4.6-mm I.D. Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography column was employed to attain a baseline separation of major phospholipid classes contained in the various milk samples tested. Quantitative analysis was performed by external calibration method using reference material solutions in the 5–100 mg/L concentration range. Analytical recoveries ranging from 57 to 100%, and repeatability data lower than 8.04% were obtained on a skimmed cow’s milk sample. The crude cow milk was the most abundant (0.04%) in phospholipids and donkey milk was the poorest (0.004 %). Quantitative differences were determined in the phospholipid content of the milk samples tested. Finally, characterization of phospholipid profile and fatty acid composition of the different samples was carried out by an ion trap-time of flight mass spectrometer and gas chromatography coupled to flame ionization and mass spectrometry detection. A thorough screening of the polar lipid composition of milk samples of different origin is here outlined, for the first time.