Sensitive Monitoring of Amygdalin and 5-Hydroxytryptamine in Food Supplements Using HILIC OH5 Chromatography

Abstract

Amygdalin is a cyanogenic glycoside found in pits and kernels of numerous plants especially from the family Rosaceae. Recently, in some countries, food supplements containing amygdalin have been offered for the use in the alternative cancer treatment. The effectivity of amygdalin in the antitumor therapy remained still questionable. Considering the potential toxicity of amygdalin, it is of a high importance to provide the information of its content in available food supplements. A fast hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-high performance liquid chromatography (HILIC-HPLC) method was developed for the analysis of amygdalin and 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin), using new Ascentis Express OH5 column (100 × 3.0 mm; 2.7 μm). Mobile phase composed of acetonitrile and 10 mM ammonium acetate pH 3.8, 90:10 (v/v) was used. The developed method was applied to the determination of amygdalin and serotonin in capsules containing apricot kernels and sea buckthorn berries as well as to the determination of amygdalin in apricot kernels and serotonin as a minority compound in sea buckthorn samples for food supplements. The method recovery was in the range 95.25–106.09 % for amygdalin and in the range 97.67–104.30 % for 5-hydroxytryptamine, respectively.