Rapid HPLC/MS/MS analysis of phenolic content and profile for mead quality assessment

Abstract

The monitoring of phenolic compounds in mead is a useful tool for the evaluation of its quality and potential adulteration because the profile and content of phenolic compounds strongly depend on the amount and type of honey used for mead production and on the technological process. Therefore, the aim of this study was the optimization of rapid reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of 23 phenolic compounds in 22 mead samples. The isolation of monitored phenolic compounds was performed using liquid-liquid extraction with a mixture of diethyl ether and ethyl acetate. 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic, 4-hydroxybenzoic, caffeic, p-coumaric, salicylic, chlorogenic, gentisic, gallic and ferulic acids, together with apigenin, quercetin and 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde were the most frequently occurred phenolic compounds in mead extracts. The instrumental limits of detection and quantification were for all compounds below 20 ug/L and 65 ug/L, respectively. Among the samples studied, four meads contained a low total amount of phenolic compounds (below 10 mg/L), and two of them did not even exceed 2 mg/L. Moreover, a very high concentration of vanillin as a flavouring was observed in one of those samples.