title: Reversed-phase liquid chromatographic profile of free amino acids in strawberry-tree (Arbutus unedo L.) honey.
abstract: The typical profile of the free amino acids contained in strawberry-tree (Arbutus unedo L.) honey is reported for the first time. An optimized reversed-phase liquid chromatographic (RP-LC) method with phenyl isothiocyanate precolumn derivatization was used. Fourteen free amino acids were identified and quantified in 16 analytical samples. Proline (65.63%) was found to be the most abundant free amino acid, followed by glutamic acid (6.49%), arginine (5.21%), alanine (5.17%), and phenylalanine (4.97%). The total free amino acid content of strawberry-tree honey (average value, 436 mg/kg) was found to be low in comparison to amounts cited in the literature concerning unifloral honeys. The analytical method was optimized and fully validated in terms of detection and quantitation limits, precision (by testing repeatability and reproducibility), linearity, and bias (by means of recovery tests). The acceptability of the validation protocol results was verified using Horwitz's mathematical model and AOAC guidelines.
authors.affiliation: Università degli Studi di Sassari, Dipartimento di Chimica, via Vienna 2, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Spano
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Piras
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ciulu
authors.forename: Ignazio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Floris
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Panzanelli
authors.forename: Maria I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Pilo
authors.forename: Paola C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Piu
authors.forename: Gavino
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sanna
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D029791:Ericaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D005602:France; D006722:Honey / Q000032:analysis*; D007558:Italy; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids