Abstract: A high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) method was developed for the simultaneous determination of five saccharides such as fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose and lactose in foods. Samples were extracted with water under rotating vortex field, and protein was removed by using 100 mL of acetonitrile. The extract was separated on an ACQUITY BEH Amide HPLC column using acetonitrile-water (both containing 0.1% ammonia) as mobile phase. The electrospray ionization tandem quadrupole mass spectrometric analysis was carried out in the negative ion mode using selective reaction-monitoring (SIM) under the conditions: 10 MPa nebulizer pressure, 200 ℃ drying gas temperature, and 8 mL/min flow rate. The limits of detection were 32μg/kg for fructose, 32μg/kg for glucose, 9μg/kg for sucrose, 21μg/kg for maltose and 20μg/kg for lactose. The average recovery rates were 98.5%－102.2% at 10 g/kg and 2 g/kg spike levels with a relative standard deviation of 0.2%－1.4%. This developed method is characteristics of rapidity, high sensitivity, precision and convenient operation, thereby providing a promising approach for simultaneous determination of trace sugars in foods.

Key words: high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), monosaccharide, disaccharide, foods