Analysis of carbohydrates in tobacco extract by high performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detector

A new approach for the determination of eight carbohydrates (rhamnose, xylose, arabinose, fructose, mannose, glucose, sucrose, maltose) in tobacco extract is, described. The analytical method was based on the extraction of carbohydrates from tobacco samples with an aqueous solution, followed by isolation of target analytes from. extract aliquots by solid-phase extraction using Sep-pak-C-18 cartridges. The extracts were analysed by liquid chromatography' with evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD). The carbohydrates were separated on Waters (TM), high performance carbohydrate column using an acetonitrile-water gradient system at a flow-rate of 1.0 mL/min. The optimum settings of the ELSD parameters: drift tube temperature was 80 degrees C and nitrogen carrier gas flow-rate was 2.00 mL/min. The detection limits (S/N = 3) ranged from 12.5 to 25.0 ng. The recoveries were reproducible ranging from 86.0% to 102.4%. The method is accurate, rapid and has been employed for the quantitative analysis of soluble carbohydrates in tobacco and cut. tobacco.