Abstract: A qualitative and quantitative method for the determination of 12 oligosaccharides in human milk was established. The conditions for gradient elution were set as follows: mobile phase A, 10 mmol/L ammonium formate solution; mobile phase B, acetonitrile; flow rate, 0.3 mL/min; and column temperature, 50 ℃. The gradient elution procedure was programmed as follows: 0–10 min, 95%–75% B; 10–15 min, 75% B; 15–20 min, 75%–65% B; 20–21 min, 65%–10% B; 21–24 min, 10% B, 24–25 min, 10%–95% B; and 25–35 min, 95% B. The results showed that the standard curves of 12 oligosaccharides had good linearity within the concentration range investigated (R2 > 0.98) and the recoveries were between 80.00% and 120.00%. The repeatability and instrumental precision (expressed as elative standard deviations) were less than 10%.

Key words: oligosaccharides, human milk, ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-QQQ MS)