Stable isotope labeling-assisted GC/MS/MS method for determination of methyleugenol in food samples

Methyleugenol is a common phenylpropanoid compound found in many plants and has been widely used as a flavoring agent in people's daily life. In this study, a stable isotope dilution assay-coupled gas chromatography/triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (SIDA-GC/MS/MS) method was developed for the quantitative determination of methyleugenol in food samples. Methyleugenol-D₃ was synthesized and used as an isotope internal standard for the determination of methyleugenol. The QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) method was applied to the clean-up of food sample extracts. Confirmation and quantification were carried out by GC/MS/MS.

The analytical performance of the method was validated. The determination range of methyleugenol was linear from 4 to 500 µg L^-1 . Method detection limits for solid food samples, semi-solid food samples and liquid beverages were 50, 50 and 1 µg kg^-1 respectively. Satisfactory recoveries in the range 94.29-100.27% were obtained. Intra- and inter-day precision was also validated and the values were all lower than 9%. The method was successfully applied to quantify methyleugenol in different kinds of food samples.

This article describes a new method for the accurate quantification of methyleugenol in food samples based on a stable isotope labeling-assisted GC/MS/MS method. Methyleugenol-D₃ was synthesized and used as an isotope internal standard for the determination of methyleugenol. Excellent results were generated with the method, and the detection sensitivity and accuracy of the method were good. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.