Liquid chromatographic analysis of non-volatile strawberry compounds

A procedure is presented for simultaneous extraction of organic acids, vitamin C and sugars from strawberries and analysis by reversed-phase (RP) HPLC and cationexchange (calcium form) chromatography. Recoveries from strawberries spiked at different levels ranged from 96 to 103 % for carbohydrates, 92 to 112 % for organic acids, and 84 % for vitamin C; the repeatability of the method evaluated as the relative standard deviation in the optimum range was <5 % for sugars and 7.5 % for organic acids and vitamin C. Multivariate analysis techniques, such as Bayes and SIMCA analyses, have enabled correct classification of the strawberries tested but we were unable to establish adequate models for typifying them according to their geographic origin.