Determination of 2-(4-Methoxyphenoxy)-Propionic Acid Sweetness Inhibitor in Candies by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometryic (HPLC-MS/MS) method was established for the detection of sodium 2-(4-methoxyphenoxy) -propanoate in candies.The sample was pretreated by using an aqueous solution (pH8.0):acetonitrile=1.5:1 (V/V) as an extraction solvent,and then fat was removed by hexane. The clear liquid filtrated with membrane was detected. The analytes were identified by HPLC-MS/MS with the negative electrospray ionization (ESI^-) under selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode,and analyzed quantitatively by the external standard method. Results showed that the calibration curves were linear in the concentration range of 6.25~100.00 μg/L (correlation coefficients was 0.9998).The limits of detection (LODs) of the sodium 2-(4-methoxyphenoxy) -propanoate was 8.0 μg/kg,and the limits of quantitation (LOQs) was 20.0 μg/kg. The average recoveries were in the range of 82.7%~90.7% with relative standard derivations (RSDs) of 1.2%~2.5%.The method was simple,sensitive and accurate. It provided a new method of the determination of the sodium 2-(4-methoxyphenoxy) -propanoate residue in candies.