High performance liquid chromatography of furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural in spirits and honey

Furfural (2-furaldehyde) and hydroxymethylfurfural (5-hydroxy-2-furaldehyde, HMF) are determined in brandy and honey by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography. Brandies and other spirits are injected without sample preparation; honey is diluted with water and the solution is filtered before injection onto a reverse phase column with detection at 285 nm. The mobile phase is methanol--water (10 + 90) and the effluent flow rate is maintained at 1.0 mL/min. External standardization is used for quantitative determination. Recoveries from cognac and honey spiked at different levels ranged from 95 to 99% (furfural) and 95 to 100% (HMF). The furfural content of the brandies was also determined by the existing colorimetric method of the Bureau National Interprofessionel du Cognac. The HMF content of the honey was correlated to the results of the classic method of Winkler.