title: Rapid method for the determination of coumarin, vanillin, and ethyl vanillin in vanilla extract by reversed-phase liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection.
abstract: A method is described for determining coumarin, vanillin, and ethyl vanillin in vanilla extract products. A product is diluted one-thousand-fold and then analyzed by reversed-phase liquid chromatography using a C18 column and a mobile phase consisting of 55% acetonitrile-45% aqueous acetic acid (1%) solution at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. Peaks are detected with a UV detector set at 275 nm. Vanilla extracts were spiked with 250, 500, and 1000 microg/g each of coumarin, vanillin, and ethyl vanillin. Recoveries averaged 97.4, 97.8, and 99.8% for coumarin, vanillin, and ethyl vanillin, respectively, with coefficient of variation values of 1.8, 1.3, and 1.3%, respectively. No significant difference was observed among the 3 spiking levels. A survey of 23 domestic and imported vanilla extract products was conducted using the method. None of the samples contained coumarin. The surveyed samples contained between 0.4 to 13.1 and 0.4 to 2.2 mg/g vanillin and ethyl vanillin, respectively.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 5100 Paint Branch Pkwy, College Park, MD 20740, USA. Laila.Ali@fda.hhs.gov
authors.forename: Laila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Gracia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Perfetti
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Diachenko
mesh_terms: D001547:Benzaldehydes / Q000032:analysis*; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D003374:Coumarins / Q000032:analysis*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000032:analysis*; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D031669:Vanilla / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001547:Benzaldehydes; D003374:Coumarins; D010936:Plant Extracts; C030123:coumarin; C100058:vanillin; C045941:ethyl vanillin