title: Determination of phenolic compounds in honey using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction.
abstract: Honey is a valuable functional food rich in phenolic compounds with a broad spectrum of biological activities. Analysis of the phenolic compounds in honey is a very promising tool for the quality control, the authentication and characterization of botanical origin, and the nutraceutical research. This work describes a novel approach for the rapid analysis of five phenolic acids and 10 flavonoids in honey. Phenolic compounds were rapidly extracted and concentrated from diluted honey by dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) and then analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography with UV absorbance detection (HPLC-UV). Some important parameters, such as the nature and volume of extraction and dispersive solvents, pH and salt effect were carefully investigated and optimized to achieve the best extraction efficiency. Under the optimal conditions, an exhaustive extraction for twelve of the investigated analytes (recoveries >70%), with a precision (RSD<10%) highly acceptable for complex matrices, and detection and quantification limits at ppb levels (1.4-12 and 4.7-40ngg(-1), respectively) were attained. The proposed method, compared with the most widely used method in the analysis of phenolic compounds in honey, provided similar or higher extraction efficiency, except in the case of the most hydrophilic phenolic acids. The capability of DLLME to the extraction of other honey phytochemicals, such as abscisic acid, was also demonstrated. The main advantages of developed method are the simplicity of operation, the rapidity to achieve a very high sample throughput and low cost.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università di Salerno, via Ponte Don Melillo, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Campone
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università di Salerno, via Ponte Don Melillo, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy. Electronic address: apiccine@unisa.it.
authors.forename: Anna Lisa
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Piccinelli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università di Salerno, via Ponte Don Melillo, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy.
authors.forename: Imma
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pagano
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Agraria, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, loc. Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, RC, Italy.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carabetta
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Agraria, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, loc. Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, RC, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Di Sanzo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Agraria, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, loc. Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, RC, Italy; Fondazione Mediterranea Terina, Area Industriale, 88046 Lamezia Terme, CZ, Italy.
authors.forename: Mariateresa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università di Salerno, via Ponte Don Melillo, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rastrelli
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006722:Honey / Q000032:analysis*; D059627:Liquid Phase Microextraction / Q000379:methods*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D010636:Phenols / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D005419:Flavonoids; D010636:Phenols; D012997:Solvents
keywords: DLLME; Flavonoids; HPLC–HRMS; HPLC–UV; Honey; Phenolic acids