Fast high-performance liquid chromatography quantification of ten phenolic acids in honey using chemometric second-order calibration method

Abstract

This study aims at the determination of ten phenolic acids in honey using high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) combined with a chemometric second-order calibration method. First, the accuracy of the model was investigated by analysis of the calibration samples and validation samples. Satisfactory results were obtained; the ten phenolic acids exhibited good linearity, and the correlation coefficient (R) was in the range 0.9982-0.9999, with average recoveries of 97.6% to 101.1%, which proved that the model was stable and reliable. Second, the types and operating conditions of the SPE columns were determined by experiments using simulated honey; HLB column was selected, washed with 0.1%(v/v) formic acid aqueous solution, and eluted with methanol. Finally, the phenolic acid contents in jujube flower honey were determined under the optimum conditions for simulated honey. The recoveries of the analytes were 62.1%-93.8%, which met the requirements considering the variety of target analytes and the complexity of the honey substrate. In addition, the efficiency of the method was validated by figures of merit and statistical parameters, including sensitivity (SEN), selectivity (SEL), root-mean-square error of prediction (RMSEP), limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantification (LOQ); the obtained results were satisfactory. This method is simple, fast, and accurate, and it can be used for the quantitative analysis of the target analytes in complex substrates.