Abstract:A novel method to simultaneously detect 11 water-soluble vitamins in infant formulae using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS/MS) was established. The sample was pre-treated, followed by the separation using a Waters Acuity UPLC HSS T3 (2.1 × 100 mm, 1.8 μm) column by gradient elution, with 0.1% formic acid in methanol and 10 mol/L ammonium formate solution (pH = 3.5) as the mobile phase, in conjunction with electrospray ionization multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). The results showed that each sample could be analyzed within five minutes, detecting 11 water-soluble vitamins as well as exhibiting a good linear relationship (r ≥ 0.999) and a detection limit between 0.02 and 3.00 ng/mL. The recovery rate was tested at three levels with five repeats at each level. The results showed that the average recovery rate ranged between 88.0% and 110.0%, with relative standard deviation of < 5%. This method was rapid, simple, accurate, and sensitive, and could simultaneously analyze multiple vitamins within a wide concentration range. This method can therefore help to improve analytical efficiency and reduce cost of food testing laboratories, for the detection of water-soluble vitamins in infant formulae.
