Simultaneous separation and determination of sugars, ascorbic acid and furanic compounds by HPLC—dual detection

An HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous separation and determination of sugars, ascorbic acid, 5-HMF (5-hydroxymethylfurfural), furfural and four other furanic compounds as the possible degradation products of sugars and ascorbic acid on heating and by Maillard reaction. Sucrose, glucose, fructose, ascorbic acid, dehydroascorbic acid, 5-HMF, furfural, DMHF (2,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-3(2H)-furanone), 2-furoic acid, 2-acetylfuran and furfuryl alcohol were separated on an Aminex HPX-87H column (300×7.8 mm). The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile and 0.005 mol l−1 sulfuric acid aqueous solution (16:84, v/v). Two detectors, a refractive index detector and a photodiode array detector, were used to detect these compounds. Several fruit juice and drink samples were analyzed using this HPLC method. For alcoholic beverages, the content of alcohol was also simultaneously determined by refractive index detector.