LC/MS/MS Can Help Screen Cereal

An example of reproducibility at the 0.5 PPB level was demonstrated for pyridoxine and is shown in. The peak area percent relative standard deviation (RSD) values for all compounds at the 0.5 PPB level are given.

A fortified cereal extract was also analyzed and quantitated using the diluted standard mix already mentioned. An example of the batch results was done using the quantitative analysis program in Agilent’s MassHunter Workstation Software; the concentration of nicotinamide present in the sample was calculated to be 111.6 pg/mL. The corresponding chromatographic elution of the eight compounds detected in the fortified extract is shown in.

As the results of this work show, water-soluble B vitamins are successfully analyzed using LC/MS/MS. Good linearity with R2 > 0.99 is demonstrated over two to three orders of magnitude for all compounds, with reproducibility as low as 2.5% RSD at the lowest level of quantitation for pyroxidine. An extracted fortified sample is successfully analyzed, with only the cyanocobalamin concentration falling below the quantitation limit.

Dr. Mohsin is an applications scientist and Dr. Zumwalt is a product specialist at Agilent Technologies, Inc. Dr. Singh is a senior chemist at ConAgra Foods, Inc. For more information, reach Dr. Zumwalt at (303) 662-3532 or michael_ zumwalt@agilent.com.