Examination of the sugar analysis using HPLC method scouting system coupled to single quadrupole mass spectrometer

The 17 kinds of sugars: acesulfame potassium, galactose, maltose, erythritol, glucose, lactose, xylitol, sorbitol, trehalose, rhamnose, mannitol, maltitol, fructose, sucrose, sucralose, mannose and aspartame were used as samples in this study.
It is not expected for them to be retained by ODS column which is generally used for LCMS analysis, because of their low hydrophobicity (high polarity).
Therefore, an amino column and an amide column which were appropriate columns for sugar analysis were used. Unison UK-Amino (Imtakt Corporation, Japan) and TSK gel Amide-80 HR (Tosoh Corporation, Japan) were selected as an amino column and an amide column, respectively. 0.1 % acetic acid a.q. and 10 mmol/L ammonium acetate a.q. were used as an aqueous mobile phase, and acetonitrile was selected as an organic solvent mobile phase. The 17 kinds of sugars were measured in scan mode by LCMS using 4 different analytical conditions to examine the sensitivity and separation of peaks on the chromatogram. As a result, it was showed to monitor [M+CH3COO]- using a combination of amino column and 10 mmol/L acetic acid ammonium a.q.(aqueous mobile phase)/ acetonitrile(organic solvent mobile phase).
In order to further improve the separation of peaks, the 17 kinds of sugars were measured in SIM(selected ion monitoring) mode by LCMS using 6 different gradient program . We could create the optimal method for quantitative analysis of the 17 kinds of sugars by above examinations. As a result of performing quantitative analysis of the standard solutions of 17 sugars using an optimized method file, high quantifiability was provided with all sugars.