Abstract:To more effectively characterize and evaluate the quality of Prunus mume and its products, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to simultaneously detect the composition and concentration of eight organic acids (oxalic acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, citric acid, succinic acid, and ) in P.mume samples. This analysis was performed on a Zorbax SB-Aq C18 column (4.6×250 mm, 5 μm) at 25 ℃ using methanol and 0.01 mol/L KH2P04 (pH 2.65) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The wavelengths of 210 and 215 nm were selected for the double-wavelength detection. The recovery of the organic acids ranged from 97.18% to 111.57% with relative standard deviations of 0.53%~4.67%, and the detection limits were in the range of 0.05~6.33 μg/mL. The results showed that, in P.mume, the dominant organic acid was citric acid, followed by malic acid, oxalic acid, and small amounts of tartaric acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, and succinic acid. These organic acids constitute the characteristic organic acid profile of P.mume. Using this HPLC method to analyze the organic acid profiles of P. mume and its products showed that, although the total organic acid content greatly varied during the production processes of different P. mume products, these products had the same characteristic organic acid profile. Therefore, the characteristic organic acid profile of P.mume could be used to evaluate the quality of P. mume products and identify any adulterated products.
