Simultaneous determination of sugars, sugar alcohols, acids and amino acids in apricots by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Our GC-MS method for the simultaneous quantitation of mono- di- and trisaccharides, sugar alcohols and acids, measured as their trimethylsilyl-oxime ether/ester derivatives, prepared in presence of the fruit matrix, from one solution by one injection has been extended. The reproducible determination of apricot constituents was performed both on the basis of total ion current (TIC) and selective fragment ion (SFI) values, ensuring identification and quantitation in a wide concentration range (similar to 1.10(-3) to greater than or equal to 40%), calculated on dry matter basis of the samples). The GC-MS procedure was utilized to prove the advantage of the direct derivatization process, in the presence of the fruit matrix, and to determine the changes in the sugar/sugar alcohol/carboxylic acid/amino acid composition of two apricot cultivars, as a function of their harvesting dates and storage conditions. Reproducibility of quantitations, characterized by their RSD values, proved to be, 3.6% (TIC) and 4.3% (SFI). (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.