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Simultaneous quantification of amino acids and Amadori products in foods through ion-pairing liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry

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Abstract

The formation of the Amadori products (APs) is the first key step of Maillard reaction. Only few papers have dealt with simultaneous quantitation of amino acids and corresponding APs (1-amino-1-deoxy-2-ketose). Chromatographic separation of APs is affected by several drawbacks mainly related to their poor retention in conventional reversed phase separation. In this paper, a method for the simultaneous quantification of amino acids and their respective APs was developed combining high-resolution mass spectrometry with ion-pairing liquid chromatography. The limit of detection was 0.1 ng/mL for tryptophan, valine and arginine, while the limit of quantification ranged from 2 to 5 ng/mL according to the specific sensitivity of each analyte. The relative standard deviation % was lower than 10 % and the coefficient of correlation was higher than 0.99 for each calibration curve. The method was applied to milk, milk-based products, raw and processed tomato. Among the analyzed products, the most abundant amino acid was glutamic acid (16,646.89 ± 1,385.40 µg/g) and the most abundant AP was fructosyl-arginine in tomato puree (774.82 ± 10.01 µg/g). The easiness of sample preparation coupled to the analytical performances of the proposed method introduced the possibility to use the pattern of free amino acids and corresponding APs in the evaluation of the quality of raw food as well as the extent of thermal treatments in different food products.

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Abbreviations

MR:

Maillard reaction

APs:

Amadori products

HRMS:

High-resolution mass spectrometry

NFPA:

Perfluoropentanoic acid

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Food Quality Design Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 8129, 6700 EV, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Antonio Dario Troise & Vincenzo Fogliano

  2. Department of Agricultural and Food Science, University of Napoli “Federico II”, Parco Gussone, 80055, Portici, Napoli, Italy

    Antonio Dario Troise & Alberto Fiore

  3. Istituto di Biostrutture e Bioimmagini (IBB), CNR, via Mezzocannone 16, 80134, Naples, Italy

    Giovanni Roviello & Simona Maria Monti

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  1. Antonio Dario Troise
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  2. Alberto Fiore
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Troise, A.D., Fiore, A., Roviello, G. et al. Simultaneous quantification of amino acids and Amadori products in foods through ion-pairing liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry. Amino Acids 47, 111–124 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-014-1845-5

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