Excessive sugar consumption is associated with metabolic health problems. Rare sugars are gradually being used as substitutes for sugar, and their consumption is increasing daily, raising food-safety issues such as false advertising, adulteration, and overdosing. The determination of rare-sugar compounds has attracted considerable attention in recent years. However, no standard method for the simultaneous determination of six rare sugars (allulose, tagatose, trehalose, isomaltulose, erythritol, and mannitol) in solid foods is available. Therefore, establishing a suitable analytical method for these sugars is necessary. In this study, high performance liquid chromatography coupled with evaporative light-scattering detection was used to determine rare sugars in solid foods. The optimum chromatographic and detector conditions were determined by evaluating the instrument parameters. Analysis was carried out on a Zorbax Original NH2 column (250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 μm) via flow-rate gradient elution (0-15 min, 1.0 mL/min; 15-18 min, 1.0-2.0 mL/min; 18-25 min, 2.0 mL/min) with acetonitrile-water (80∶20, v/v) as the mobile phase. Sharp and symmetric chromatographic peaks were obtained under these conditions. The resolutions for all the six rare sugars were greater than 1.5. Optimization of the evaporative light-scattering detector was extremely important to the responses of the rare-sugar compounds. The two most significant parameters were the nebulizer carrier gas flow rate and drift tube temperature. The detection system was operated under the following conditions: the drift tube temperature was set to 50 ℃, the nebulizer carrier gas was high-purity nitrogen, the carrier gas flow rate was 1.0 mL/min, the nitrogen pressure was regulated to 275.79 kPa, and the gain factor was set to 3. The sample was extracted with 25 mL of water, shaken and vortexed for 10 min, purified with 200 μL of zinc acetate solution and 200 μL of potassium ferricyanide solution, and centrifuged at 4500 r/min for 10 min. Next, 1 mL of the supernatant was passed through a 0.22 μm aqueous-phase filter membrane, and the filtrate obtained was analyzed using the evaporative light-scattering detector. The six rare sugars were quantitatively analyzed using the external standard method and showed good linearity with coefficients of determination (R2) greater than 0.9985. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.020-0.60 and 0.60-1.8 g/100 g, respectively. In addition, when blank solid food samples were spiked with the analytes at three levels, the average recoveries of the six rare sugars were 92.6%-103.2%, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 0.7%-4.4%. An RSD of <5% indicated that the method had good precision. Interference experiments were performed to determine whether the sugars and artificial sweeteners commonly found in solid foods affected the targets. The method established in this study was used to analyze the contents of the six rare sugars in actual solid food samples. The experimental results showed various levels of rare glycoconjugates in different solid foods. Moreover, the actual compositions and labeled of rare glycoconjugates in the solid foods were generally consistent. The proposed method features simple operation, rapid results, high sensitivity, and good reproducibility; thus, it meets the requirements for the detection of the six rare sugars in solid foods. It also provides technical support for the development of methodological standards and detection limits for rare sugars in Chinese foods. The results of this study are of great relevance for the daily monitoring of the levels of the six rare sugars in solid foods.
稀有糖在固态食品中的应用量与日俱增,引发了掺假、过量添加等食品安全问题,因此建立固态食品中稀有糖(阿洛酮糖、塔格糖、海藻糖、异麦芽酮糖、赤藓糖醇和甘露糖醇)的检测方法十分重要。本文基于高效液相色谱-蒸发光散射检测器,建立了一种同时检测固态食品中6种稀有糖的分析方法。选用Zorbax Original NH2色谱柱(250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 μm)进行分离,流动相为乙腈-水(80∶20, v/v),流速梯度洗脱。蒸发光散射检测系统的漂移管温度设置为50 ℃,雾化器载气为高纯氮,载气流速为1.0 mL/min,压力为275.79 kPa,增益值为3。样品经25 mL水提取,振荡涡旋10 min,分别加入200 μL的乙酸锌溶液和200 μL的亚铁氰化钾溶液净化,4500 r/min离心10 min,取上清液1 mL,过0.22 μm水相滤膜,待上机分析。6种稀有糖在各自范围内线性关系良好,决定系数(R2)均>0.9985,方法的检出限为0.02~0.60 g/100 g。以空白固态食品样品为基质,在3种加标水平下,6种稀有糖的回收率为92.6%~103.2%,相对标准偏差为0.7%~4.4%。将该方法用于分析实际固态食品样品中6种稀有糖的含量,结果显示,实际成分和食品标签所示基本一致。本研究建立的方法前处理操作简单,重复性好,方法快速、灵敏、准确,可应用于日常监测固态食品中6种稀有糖的含量,同时为稀有糖的检测提供了一种具有广阔前景的技术手段。
Keywords: evaporative light-scattering detector (ELSD); high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); rare sugar; solid food.