title: Rapid Determination of L-carnitine in Infant and Toddler Formulas by Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry.
abstract: A rapid and simple analytical method for L-carnitine was developed for infant and toddler formulas by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). A 0.3 g of infant formula and toddler formula sample was mixed in a 50 mL conical tube with 9 mL water and 1 mL 0.1 M hydrochloric acid (HCl) to chemical extraction. Then, chloroform was used for removing a lipid fraction. After centrifuged, L-carnitine was separated and quantified using LC-MS/MS with electrospray ionization (ESI) mode. The precursor ion for L-carnitine was m/z 162, and product ions were m/z 103 (quantitative) and m/z 85 (qualitative), respectively. The results for spiked recovery test were in the range of 93.18-95.64% and the result for certified reference material (SRM 1849a) was within the range of the certificated values. This method could be implemented in many laboratories that require time and labor saving.
authors.affiliation: KOTITI Testing & Research Institute, Seongnam 462-807, Korea.
authors.forename: Jang-Hyuk
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.affiliation: Food Safety Center, Research and Development Institute, Namyang Dairy Co., Ltd., Gongju 339-914, Korea.
authors.forename: Byung-Man
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kwak
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Biotechnology of Animal Resources, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung-Min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Biotechnology of Animal Resources, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Na-Kyeoung
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Biotechnology of Animal Resources, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Jin-Man
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: L-carnitine; LC-MS/MS; analytical method; infant formula; toddler formula