Simultaneous determination of <I>meso</I>-erythritol and L-erythrulose in fermentation broth using high performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

A high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of meso-erythritol and L-erythrulose in fermentation broth. The chromatographic conditions were as follows: Lichrospher 5-NH2 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm) with the temperature of 30 degrees C, acetonitrile-water (90: 10, v/v) as mobile phase with the flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. meso-Erythritol was detected by refractive index (RI) detector at 35 degrees C and L-erythrulose was detected by ultraviolet (UV) detector at 277 nm at room temperature. The linear range for meso-erythritol was 1.00 - 100.00 g/L with a correlation coefficient of 0.998 5. The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification (LOQ) for meso-erythritol were 0.10 g/L and 0.45 g/L, respectively. The linear range for L-erythrulose was 1.00 - 100.00 g/L with a correlation coefficient of 0.995 8. The LOD and LOQ for L-erythrulose were 0.50 g/L and 0.87 g/L, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of intraday and interday for meso-erythritol were less than 3.28% and 5.30%, respectively. The intraday and interday RSDs for L-erythrulose were less than 2.16% and 2.25%, respectively. The recoveries of meso-erythritol and L-erythrulose in fermentation broth were greater than 99%. The samples from fermentation broth were detected at different time points. The measurement by the novel HPLC method was not affected by the other components in the fermentation broth. Furthermore, the HPLC method can be used for the determination of the substrate meso-erythritol and the product L-erythrulose simultaneously.