High-Sensitivity Analysis of Purines in Alcoholic Beverages Using Hydrophilic Interaction Chromatography Coupled with Tandem Mass Spectrometry

In this study, we established a high-sensitivity analytical method for purines in alcoholic beverages using hydrophilic interaction chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. The alcoholic beverages were hydrolyzed with perchloric acid (60%) and subjected to strong cation exchange solid-phase extraction (Bond Elut SCX). The four purine bases (hypoxanthine, adenine, xanthine, guanine) in the extracted solution were separated by hydrophilic interaction chromatography with TSKgel Amide-80 as a separation column, 10 mM ammonium formate (pH 2.0) as mobile phase A, and acetonitrile/100 mM ammonium formate (pH 2.0) (90/10) as mobile phase B. The detection of purine bases was performed by tandem mass spectrometry with ESI. The linearity of this analytical method was not less than 0.996, and the repeatability was not more than 8.4% for each purine base. The recovery was in the range of 60-105%, and the detection limit was not more than 0.005 mg/100 mL. This established method is expected to be useful for quality control and surveillance of purines in alcoholic beverages.