Determination of Polydextrose (Polymer) and Residual Monomers in Polydextrose by Liquid Chromatography

Abstract

Abstract A simple, liquid chromatographic method has been developed for determination of the reduced-calorie food additive polydextrose—a water soluble, 1 kilocalorie/gram bulking agent used extensively for manufacture of low-calorie food products. The method allows rapid determination of polydextrose content as well as determination of the minor components: dextrose, sorbitol, and 2 isomeric anhydroglucoses in bulk samples of polydextrose. The proposed method is superior to current Food Chemical Codex (FCC) methodologies for determination of polydextrose (phenol sulfuric acid spectrophotometry) and for determination of residual monomers [gas chromatographic (GC) determination as their trimethylsilyl derivatives]. The proposed method is more precise, considerably faster, and is safer to execute. The method uses a resin-based cation exchange column, 0.001N sulfuric acid mobile phase, and differential refractive index detection. Analyte response curves were linear; and data displayed good precision with coefficients of variation ranging from 1.1 to 1.6%. The efficiency, specificity, precision, and ruggedness of the method make it amenable to implementation in a routine quality control operation.