Flow-injection determination of HMF in honey by the Winkler method

1H NMR studies on Italian balsamic and traditional balsamic vinegars

In the present work Principal Component Analysis applied to (1)H NMR spectra of balsamic and traditional balsamic vinegars is used to establish a simple and rapid aging determination protocol. Chemical composition of vinegar is dominated by carbohydrates even though several small components can be clearly observed in the proton NMR spectrum. Quantitative determination of some selected metabolites such as ethanol, acetic acid, malic acid, glucose, and HMF, considered as potential aging indicators, has been performed. (1)H NMR spectroscopy provides noninvasive characterization of such compounds, and our data demonstrate the validity of this approach, giving very promising results for assessing the quality of the final product.

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of methyl anthranilate, hydroxymethylfurfural and related compounds in honey

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for determining 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde (hydroxymethylfurfural), 2-furaldehyde (furfural), furan-2-carboxylic acid (2-furoic acid), furan-3-carboxylic acid (3-furoic acid), furan-3-carboxaldehyde (3-furaldehyde) and 2-aminobenzoic acid methyl ester (methyl anthranilate) in honey and honeydew samples is described. To prevent matrix interference and to isolate the compounds, a clean-up step which implies a solid-phase extraction on polymeric cartridges and an elution with 0.5 ml methanol is recommended. The compounds are separated on a reversed-phase column with a gradient of (A) 1% aqueous acetic acid-acetonitrile (97:3, v/v) and (B) acetonitrile-water (50:50, v/v), with UV detection at 250 nm. The method is applied to the analysis of samples from different botanical origin.