Studies on qualitative and quantitative detection of trehalose purity by terahertz spectroscopy

Terahertz spectroscopy was used to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze four samples (three brands) of trehalose produced in China and other countries. The results show that the main characteristic peak was greatly affected by concentration, and the optimal detection concentration of trehalose was determined to be 25%-55% by transmission scanning. There were six significant characteristic absorption peaks in the trehalose spectrum, meaning that terahertz spectroscopy can be used for qualitative analysis, analogous to infrared spectroscopy. Moreover, the terahertz spectrum can effectively distinguish the three isomers of trehalose, whereas infrared spectroscopy cannot. Thus, it was found that the current commercially available trehalose is the α,α-isomer. Quantitative analysis of the three brands of trehalose using terahertz spectroscopy matched the purity trends found by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis, with the order of purity from highest to lowest being TREHA, Pioneer, and Huiyang. The actual quantitative values did differ between the two detection methods, but the variation in the values from the same sample obtained by the two detection methods was less than 5%, confirming that terahertz spectroscopy is very suitable for the rapid and relative quantitative detection of trehalose.