Abstract:

An ion exchange solid phase extraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatographic method was presented and optimized in order to improve its sensitivity and accuracy. In this method, ion exchange solid-phase extraction column was used for pretreatment instead of conventionally used C18 solid-phase extraction column so that method recovery and accuracy could be both improved. This method exhibited a good linear relationship over the 5-hydroxymethyl-furfural (5-HMF) concentration range of 0.01 to 12 mg/L (R2 =0.9998). The detection limit of this method was 3.42 μg/L. The recovery rates for 5-HMF spiked at levels of 0.1, 0.5 mg/L and 1 mg/L were between 85% and 103% with a relative standard deviation varying from 0.31% to 3.83%. Determination of 5-HMF in 13 real samples was performed using this method, and the results demonstrate that this method is applicable to determine 5-HMF in food.

Key words: 5-hydroxymethyl-furfural, ion-exchange solid phase extraction, HPLC, food