Development and Validation of an Analytical Method for Glucuronolactone in Energy Drinks by Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography-electrospray Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A rapid, sensitive analytical method for glucuronolactone in beverages was developed and validated using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC-ESI-MS/MS). To determine the optimum analytical conditions for glucuronolactone, three different kinds of HILIC columns and two mobile phases with different pH values were examined. An amide-bonded stationary phase with a pH 9 acetonitrile-rich mobile phase was the best condition in terms of column retention, ESI-MS/MS response area, and signal-to-noise ratio. After extraction, glucuronolactone was separated through the HILIC amide column and detected by negative ESI-MS/MS in selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. Nine energy drinks sold in Korea were spiked with glucuronolactone at a concentration of 5 ng/mL; the Monster $Energy^{TM}$ sample showed the smallest peak area and its signal-to-noise ratio was used for method validation. Good linearity was obtained in the concentration range from 20 to 1500 ng/mL with a correlation coefficient > 0.998. The developed method had a limit of detection (LOD) of 6 ng/mL and a limit of quantitation (LOQ) of 20 ng/mL. The recovery of this method at concentration of 20, 100, 500, and 1000 ng/mL was 96.3%-99.2% with relative standard deviations (RSD) of 1.6%-14.0%. A reproducibility precision assessment at concentration of 100 and 500 ng/mL was carried out among three laboratories. The recovery of that evaluation was 95.1%-102.3% with RSD of 2.7%-7.0%. An analysis of variance indicated that there was no difference between the recovery results of the three laboratories at the 5% significance level. The validated method is applicable to inspecting beverages adulterated with glucuronolactone in Korea.

에너지 음료는 카페인을 주성분으로 타우린, 비타민 같은 다른 energy-enhancing 성분을 함유하고 있다. 미국과 유럽에서는 글루쿠로노락톤이 에너지 음료에 첨가될수 있으나, 국내에서 의약품으로는 허가되어 있다. 따라서 식품 첨가물로는 그 사용이 금지 되어 있어, 지속적으로 수입 및 유통 음료에서 시험검사를 하여 규제하고 있다. 현재 분석법으로 사용하는 LC-PDA 법은 복잡한 유도체화 과정을 거치고, 음료 중에 당류들이 위양성 결과를 나타내기도 한다. 이런 기존 방법의 단점을 개선하기 위해 HILIC-ESI-MS/MS(hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry)를 이용한 분석법을 개발하고, 선택성, 직선성, 검출한계, 정량한계, 정밀도, 정확성, 재현성에 대하여 분석법 유효성 검증을 수행했고, AOAC, EURACHEM 가이드라인에 부합되는 결과를 얻었다.