A Novel, Simple Rapid Reverse-Phase HPLC-DAD Analysis, for the Simultaneous Determination of Phenolic Compounds and Abscisic Acid Commonly Found in Foodstuff and Beverages

A novel, simple, rapid, 7-minute HPLC-DAD method for the determination of 10 phenolic compounds and abscisic acid commonly found in teas, wines, fruit and honey was successfully developed and validated according to the International Council of Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. This reverse-phase (RP) HPLC-DAD method boasts rapid separation and excellent resolution while introducing green chemistry techniques. The Agilent 1200 series diode array detector SL coupled with a reverse-phase Advanced Materials Technology Halo C18 column (100 × 3.0 mm i.d., 2.7 μm) contributed to the rapid analyses. This, together with a 0.1% formic acid in water (v/v) and methanol mobile phase, a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min and the utilization of a meticulous gradient elution resulted in a validated method for the determination of 10 phenolic compounds and abscisic acid commonly found in various foodstuffs. The resulting method proved to be rapid, accurate, precise and linear with sensitive detection limits from 0.025 μg/mL to 0.500 μg/mL and percentage recoveries of 98.07%-101.94%. Phenolic compounds have been acknowledged throughout literature for their therapeutic properties, interalia, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiaging due to free radical scavenging potentials. However, resulting analysis, can be frequently complicated and long and very often discounts green chemistry techniques. The developed and validated method successfully and rapidly analyses, gallic acid, caffeic acid, trans-p-coumaric acid, rutin, myricetin, abscisic acid, trans-cinnamic acid, quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol and chrysin with excellent resolution and precision.