The Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Sugars and Erythritol by LC-ELSD in Energy/Vitamin Drinks

With the abundance of energy/ vitamin drinks to choose from, combined with an emphasis on lower calories, more and more individuals are focusing on their daily sugar intake before consuming these drinks. With this consideration, this application highlights both the LC separation of various sugars and erythritol (sugar alcohol) as well as the analysis of these components in a selection of three energy/vitamin drinks. As both sugars and sugar alcohols are inherently poor UV absorbers, refractive index (RI) has historically been the detector of choice for these compounds. However, when using an RI detector, scientists are limited by both sensitivity and the fact that it cannot be used with any solvent gradients. By comparison, when using an Evaporative Light Scattering Detector (ELSD) for detection, researchers are afforded both greater sensitivity and the ability to run solvent gradients. This application takes particular advantage of the ELSD’s solvent gradient flexibility. As the seven sugars and sugar alcohol to be analyzed have widely differing column retention, a solvent gradient was targeted to provide the optimal separation in the least amount of time. The Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Sugars and Erythritol by LC-ELSD in Energy/Vitamin Drinks A P P L I C A T I O N N O T E