Fast and Sensitive New High Performance Liquid Chromatography Laser Induced Fluorescence (HPLC-LIF) Method for Quinine. Comparative Study in Soft Drinks

• Published in: Journal of liquid chromatography & related technologies 2009-10, Vol.32 (17), p.2600-2614
• Main Authors: Feás, X., Fente, C. A., Cepeda, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF); Non alcoholic beverage industries and mineral waters; Quinine; Soft drinks
• ISSN: 1082-6076; 1520-572X
• DOI: 10.1080/10826070903249849

A simple, quick, and accurate new method for the determination of quinine (6′-methoxycinchonan-9-ol) in soft drinks is presented. The analysis is carried out using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), coupled laser induced fluorescence (LIF) that consisted of a 325 nm He-Cd laser and a ZETALIF detector. The chromatographic separation was performed on a Phenomenex Synergi Fusion-Reversed Phase (RP) column and allows good peak shape and symmetry in less than 1.5 min. A calibration curve ranging from 1 to 100 ng/mL was shown to be linear with a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.9999. The limit of detection of quinine was 3.2 pg on the column. The method was applied to the analysis of several beverages (n = 43) containing quinine, whose analysis required minimum pretreatment before direct injection, and can therefore be used for quality control in comparison to the classical methods. Data obtained from different commercial beverages containing quinine show no homogeneous concentration of this compound. This article describes, for the first time, the successful application of HPLC coupled LIF detection for quinine determination in common beverages.