Sensitive and Rapid UHPLC-MS/MS for the Analysis of Tomato Phenolics in Human Biological Samples

An UHPLC-MS/MS method for the quantification of tomato phenolic metabolites in human fluids was optimized and validated, and then applied in a pilot dietary intervention study with healthy volunteers. A 5-fold gain in speed (3.5 min of total run); 7-fold increase in MS sensitivity and 2-fold greater efficiency (50% peak width reduction) were observed when comparing the proposed method with the reference-quality HPLC-MS/MS system, whose assay performance has been previously documented. The UHPLC-MS/MS method led to an overall improvement in the limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) for all the phenolic compounds studied. The recoveries ranged between 68% and 100% in urine and 61% and 100% in plasma. The accuracy; intra- and interday precision; and stability met with the acceptance criteria of the AOAC International norms. Due to the improvements in the analytical method; the total phenolic metabolites detected in plasma and urine in the pilot intervention study were 3 times higher than those detected by HPLC-MS/MS. Comparing with traditional methods; which require longer time of analysis; the methodology described is suitable for the analysis of phenolic compounds in a large number of plasma and urine samples in a reduced time frame.