In the present study, a novel ultrahigh-pressure liquid chromatography method using charged aerosol detector (UHPLC-CAD) has been developed for the analysis of triacylglycerols (TAGs) in extra-virgin olive oil. Using a gradient method with a superficially porous particles column, an improved separation of TAGs was obtained, with notably shortening of both solvent consumption and analysis time, in comparison with the IOC official method for ECN 42 analysis. Furthermore, a baseline separation of trilinolein was obtained. CAD provides good linearity (R2>0.999) in the range of 0.05-10 μg of trilinolein injected on column as well as uniformity of response factor for different TAG molecular species. Finally, the proposed UHPLC-CAD methodology has been successfully applied to the determination of trilinolein in low-linoleic acid extra-virgin olive oil mixed in different proportions with high-oleic sunflower oil, palm olein and a mix of them at different percentages of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 % (w/w).
