Rapid determination of 15 nutrients in rice by ultra high performance liquid chromatography-linear ion trap/orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry

Abstract

A rapid method was developed for the simultaneous determination of 15 nutrients containing eight vitamin E, six γ-oryzanols and β-carotene in rice by ultra high performance liquid chromatography-linear ion trap/orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-LTQ/Orbitrap HRMS). The analytes were extracted by methanol containing 0.05% (v/v) 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol (BHT) under the ultrasonic condition, then separated by a Poroshell 120 PFP column (150 mm×3.0 mm, 2.7 μm) with a gradient elution program using 0.1% (v/v) formic acid aqueous solution and methanol containing 0.1% (v/v) formic acid as mobile phases. The detection was performed using an LTQ/Orbitrap HRMS detector with full scan in positive ion mode. Fifteen nutrients were simultaneously separated within 13 min. Furthermore, matrix effects of the white and brown rices were investigated. The correlation coefficients (r) were ≥ 0.9950 in the linear ranges of the 15 nutrients. The limits of detection (LODs, S/N=3) and limits of quantification (LOQs, S/N=10) of the 15 nutrients were 0.2-1.8 μg/L and 0.7-6.1 μg/L, respectively. At the three spiked levels, the recoveries were 73.2%-101.5% with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranging from 1.1% to 5.0% (n=3). The method is accurate, efficient and reliable. It is suitable for the simultaneous determination of various nutrients in rice.