QUANTITATIVE SEPARATION OF VOLATILE FATTY-ACIDS BY HIGH-PRESSURE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

Volatile fatty acids (acetic, propionic, butyric, isovaleric and valeric) are separated isocratically on a reverse phase C18 .mu.BONDAPAK column in less than 20 min. The eluent was 0.01 M NaH2PO4 buffer, pH 3.5, containing 10% methanol. Separations were monitored by UV absorption at 210 nm. Peak height measurements gave quantitative linear responses from 0.25-2.50 .mu.mol of each acid.