Development of a Novel Derivate Assay for Formaldehyde Determination by HPLC in Beer Samples

Abstract

In this paper, a novel derivative reagent, ethoxyamine hydrochloride (EAHC), was proposed for formaldehyde detection with a simple and highly sensitive pre-column derivation–high-performance liquid chromatography. The effects such as the concentration of derivative reagent, buffer solution pH, reaction temperature, and reaction time on the derivate reaction were also investigated. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the peak area showed a linear relationship with the concentration of formaldehyde in a range of 0.046 to 4.6 mg L−1, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9998. The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification (LOQ) were 0.016 and 0.042 mg L−1, respectively. The proposed method was applied to the assay of different beer samples, and the recovery of the developed method was in the range of 91.3–104.3 %. To further evaluate the validity of the developed method, formaldehyde was also determined in different beer samples by the referenced HPLC method based on pre-column derivatization with 2, 4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH). Through the t test method, no obvious difference between the two methods was found at a 95 % confidence level. The results showed that the proposed method was a rapid, convenient, and feasible method for the determination of formaldehyde in beer samples.