Simultaneous determination of 1-deoxy-1-L-proline-D-fructose and 2-deoxy-2-L-proline-D-glucose in Virginia type cigarette by HPLC-MS/MS
1-Deoxy-1-L-proline-D-fructose (Pro-Fru) and 2-deoxy-2-L-proline-D-glucose (Pro-Glu) compounds are two key intermediates (Amadori and Heyns compounds) of Maillard reaction, which have great influence on the flavor and appearance quality of flue-cured tobacco. A high performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was established to determine the contents of Pro-Fru and Pro-Glu compounds in cut filler of Virginia type cigarette simultaneously. Under positive ion multi-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode, the characteristic fragment ion pairs of Pro-Fru (m/z) at 128/278 (product ion/precursor ion) and Pro-Glu (m/z) at 182/278 (product ion/precursor ion) were selected according to the mechanism of mass fragmentation. Ten Virginia type cigarettes were determined, the results showed that: the spiked recoveries of the method ranged from 93.19% to 101.46% with the relative standard deviation (RSD) from 3.53% to 8.54%. The limit of detection was 0.12 ng/mL. The contents of Pro-Fru and Pro-Glu in these Virginia type cigarettes were 6.25-11.33 and 1.15-1.96 mg/g, respectively. This method is suitable for simultaneous and accurate determination of the contents of Pro-Fru and Pro-Glu in cut tobacco of Virginia type cigarette.
Maillard reactionVirginia type cigarette1-Deoxy-1-L-proline-D-fructose2-Deoxy-2-L-proline-D-glucoseHPLC-MS/MS