Simultaneous determination of betaine and choline using derivatization by HPLC with UV detection

Extraction of quaternary ammonium compounds (choline and betaine) from plant samples (spinach) using ion exchange resin (AG1, OH - form) is a very simple and inexpensive approach. However, it is very hard to determine amounts of choline and betaine simultaneously using high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) detection. Unlike choline, betaine has low molar absorptivity in UV-visible (UV-Vis) region, which makes it difficult to carry out UV-Vis detection of betaine. The mixture of quaternary ammonium compounds (choline and betaine) was derivatized using 2-bromo acetophenone as a derivatizing agent. As a result, choline did not react with the derivatizing agent, whereas betaine formed a betaine derivative. This betaine derivative exhibited detectable UV absorption with baseline separation between choline and the betaine derivative. Thus, with this method, choline and betaine can be determined simultaneously by using the HPLC-UV method through one-step derivatization, which is an easy, sensitive, and reliable method.