Determination of eight artificial sweeteners and common Stevia rebaudiana glycosides in non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages by reversed-phase liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry

Anal Bioanal Chem. 2015 Feb;407(5):1505-12. doi: 10.1007/s00216-014-8355-x. Epub 2014 Dec 4.

Abstract

The method for the determination of acesulfame-K, saccharine, cyclamate, aspartame, sucralose, alitame, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone, neotame and five common steviol glycosides (rebaudioside A, rebaudioside C, steviol, steviolbioside and stevioside) in soft and alcoholic beverages was developed using high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry with electrospray ionisation (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that presents an HPLC-ESI-MS/MS method which allows for the simultaneous determination of all EU-authorised high-potency sweeteners (thaumatin being the only exception) in one analytical run. The minimalistic sample preparation procedure consisted of only two operations; dilution and centrifugation. Linearity, limits of detection and quantitation, repeatability, and trueness of the method were evaluated. The obtained recoveries at three tested concentration levels varied from 97.0 to 105.7%, with relative standard deviations lower than 4.1%. The proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of sweeteners in 24 samples of different soft and alcoholic drinks.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Beverages / analysis*
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / methods*
  • Chromatography, Reverse-Phase / methods
  • Food Additives / chemistry*
  • Glycosides / chemistry*
  • Plant Extracts / chemistry*
  • Stevia / chemistry*
  • Sweetening Agents / chemistry*
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry / methods*

Substances

  • Food Additives
  • Glycosides
  • Plant Extracts
  • Sweetening Agents