Gas chromatographic determination of glucono-delta-lactone in foods

A method is described for the gas chromatographic (GC) determination of glucono-delta-lactone in foods. A sample was homogenized with 60-70 degrees C water and filtered. The filtrate was buffered with NH4OH-NH4Cl pH 10 solution, and was passed through a QAE-Sephadex A25 column. The column was washed with water and glucono-delta-lactone was eluted with 0.1N HCl. An aliquot of the eluate was evaporated to dryness and derivatized with pyridine, N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide, and trimethylchlorosilane at room temperature. GC separation of glucono-delta-lactone as the TMS derivative was performed on a 2% OV-17 column at 180 degrees C. Recoveries from bread, jelly, soybean curd, and other foods fortified with 0.1% glucono-delta-lactone ranged from 92 to 106%, with standard deviations from 2.2 to 9.8%. The detection limit was approximately 0.025%.