Abstract: Established a ultra performance liquid chromatography（UPLC）method for the rapid determination of plant pigments（neoxanthin,violaxanthin,lutein,chlorophyll-a,chlorophyll-b and β-carotene） in tobacco. The plant pigments were extracted from samples with 90% acetone by ultra-sonic extraction. Then,the plant pigments were separated by Waters ACQUITY UPLCTM BEH C₁₈（2.1 mm×50 mm,1.7 μm） column, with and water mixture as mobile phase at a flow-rate of 0.8 mL/min. It eluted with gradient elution （90% V_{（acetonitrile）}）+10% V_（water）） at the beginning,then the gradient elution replaced by acetonitrile 4 min later. These plant pigments were detected by diode array detector. Under the optimal conditions,6 kinds of plant pigments could be effectively separated within 5 min. The limits of detection（LODs） of 6 kinds of plant pigments were 15~22 ng/mL and the average recoveries were in the range of 93% to 105%. Via the self-designed sample extraction bottle using for pretreatment,and improved chromatography conditions,this method efficiency was enhanced 4 times than the current tobacco standard.

Key words: ultra performance liquid chromatography, tobacco, plant pigments, rapid determination