Abstract:

A simple, sensitive and selective method was developed for simultaneous determination of four water-soluble
B vitamins including thiamine (VB1), riboflavin (VB2), nicotinic acid (VB3) and pyridoxal (VB6), in fresh and fermented
vegetables and fruits by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with UV and fluorescence detector.
Under the optimized conditions, all four compounds were well separated. The instrumental limits of detection and limits of
quantification for the four B vitamins ranged from 0.23 to 54 μg/L, respectively, and good linear correlation was observed
with R2 of 0.998 2 to 0.999 9. Recoveries of the four B vitamins in goji berries (Lycium barbarum) were in the range of
86.99%–110.23% at three spiked levels, with relative standard deviations (RSDS) of 1.25%–6.88%. This method is simple,
rapid, accurate and selective, and can be successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of four water-soluble
vitamins in fresh and fermented fruits and vegetables.

Key words: water-soluble vitamins, fermentation, high-performance liquid chromatography