摘要:A sensitive and simple analytical method for butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) using a high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) with an electrochemical detector (ECD) was described. Detection limit of BHA was 0.02 ng when BHA standard solution was analyzed. The determination of BHA by HPLC-ECD is strongly affected by the stain of the ECD electrode by contaminants in the biological samples, which causes a remarkable decrease of sensitivity. The decrease was small when BHA in the biological samples was extracted with n-hexane, the n-hexane layer was then extracted with n-hexane-saturated acetonitrile, and 0.05 M NaClO4/80% methanol was used as the mobile phase. Free BHA was recovered in high quantities from urine, serum and liver. Total BHA (sum of free BHA and conjugated BHA) was determined after hydrolysis of conjugated BHA by enzymes (enzymatic method) or HCl (HCl method). The two hydrolysis methods were compared. For urine, the enzymatic method gave a good recovery whereas the HCl method gave a low recovery. For serum, both hydrolysis methods were applicable. For liver, recovery by the enzymatic method was very low and not constant, however, constant recoveries and analytical values were obtained by the HCl method irrespective of BHA concentration. Determination limits for free BHA and total BHA were 30 ng/g for urine and serum, and 100 ng/g for liver.