Determination of phenol in honey by liquid chromatography with amperometric detection

A sensitive, selective analytical method has been developed for determination of phenol in honey by liquid chromotography (LC) with amperometric detection (AMD). Phenol is extracted with benzene from the distillate of honey. The benzene extract is washed with 1% sodium bicarbonate solution and then reextracted with 0.1N sodium hydroxide followed by cleanup on a C18 cartridge. Phenol is determined by reverse-phase LC with amperometric detection. An Inertsil ODS column (150 X 4.6 mm, 5 microns) is used in the determination. The mobile phase is a mixture (20 + 80 v/v) of acetonitrile and 0.01M sodium dihydrogen phosphate containing 2mM ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, disodium salt (EDTA) with the pH adjusted to 5.0. The flow rate is 1 mL/min under ambient conditions. The applied potential of the AMD using a glassy carbon electrode is 0.7 V vs an Ag/AgCl reference electrode. Average recoveries of phenol added to honey were 79.8% at 0.01 ppm spiking level, 90.4% at 0.1 ppm, and 91.0% at 1.0 ppm. Repeatabilities were 3.4, 1.3, and 1.8%, respectively. The detection limit of phenol in honey was 0.002 ppm. For analysis of 112 commercial honey samples, the range and average values of 32 detected samples were 0.05-5.88 ppm and 0.71 ppm, respectively.