Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry for the Determination of Caffeine in Energy Drinks

Min Soo Lee, Nguyen Lan Huong, Nguyen Huu Hoang, Anil Shrestha, Je Won Park

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A simple and highly sensitive method for the determination of caffeine in energy beverages was developed and validated. Sample preparation utilizing solid-phase extraction (SPE) was simple and reliable. Separation by isocratic ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) with a reversed-phase C18 column was performed within 6 min. The use of SPE with UPLC coupled with electrospray ionization-multiple tandem mass spectrometry detection (ESI-MSn) was accurate, reproducible, and validated for the determination of caffeine in energy drink matrices. The limit of quantification for caffeine was approximately 2.1 ng mL-1. The intra-day and inter-day precisions were less than 4%, and the accuracy of the measurements was between 85.1% and 93.2%. Results for caffeine concentrations in eighteen beverages were compared to the values on the labels. This paper describes the first use of the UPLC-ESI-ion trap MSn technique for quality-control purposes of caffeine present in energy drinks.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1852-1861
Number of pages10
JournalAnalytical Letters
Volume47
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014 Jul
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Caffeine
  • Energy drinks
  • HPLC-ESI-MS/MS
  • Solid-phase extraction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Biochemistry
  • Spectroscopy
  • Clinical Biochemistry
  • Biochemistry, medical
  • Electrochemistry

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