title: RP-HPLC determination of water-soluble vitamins in honey.
abstract: The assessment and validation of reliable analytical methods for the determination of vitamins in sugar-based matrices (e.g. honey) are still scarcely explored fields of research. This study proposes and fully validates a simple and fast RP-HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of five water-soluble vitamins (vitamin B(2), riboflavin; vitamin B(3), nicotinic acid; vitamin B(5), pantothenic acid; vitamin B(9), folic acid; and vitamin C, ascorbic acid) in honey. The method provides low detection and quantification limits, very good linearity in a large concentration interval, very good precision, and the absence of any bias. It has been successfully applied to 28 honey samples (mainly from Sardinia, Italy) of 12 different botanical origins. While the overall amount of the analytes in the samples is quite low (always below 40 mg kg(-1)), we have observed a marked dependence of some of their concentrations (i.e. vitamin B(3) and vitamin B(5)) and the botanical origin of the honey. This insight might lead to important characterization features for this food item.
authors.affiliation: Università degli Studi di Sassari, Dipartimento di Chimica, via Vienna 2, 07100 Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ciulu
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Solinas
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: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Spano
authors.forename: Gavino
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sanna
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D056148:Chromatography, Reverse-Phase / Q000379:methods*; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D006722:Honey / Q000032:analysis*; D057230:Limit of Detection; D016014:Linear Models; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012995:Solubility; D014815:Vitamins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014815:Vitamins; D014867:Water