Determination of Ascorbyl Palmitate and Ascorbyl Stearate in Foods by LC-MS/MS.

Authors

Lai-Sheung Choi, Sau-Fong Chan, Kin-Wai Yeung

Published in

Journal of AOAC International. Jul 23, 2025. Epub Jul 23, 2025.

Abstract

Ascorbyl palmitate (AP) and ascorbyl stearate (AS), together called ascorbyl esters, are antioxidants that are used as food additives to prolong the shelf-life of foods by protecting against deterioration caused by oxidation.
This paper aimed to develop a simple solvent extraction and LC-MS/MS method for the determination of AP and AS in a broad range of food matrices.
AP and AS in foods were extracted with methanol containing 0.5% (w/v) L-ascorbic acid and analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometer in negative electrospray ionization and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode.
The method was able to quantitatively detect AP and AS in different food matrices (canned drink, dessert, frozen fish, herbs, oils and infant formula/formulated products, etc) with recoveries of AP and AS at 73-113% and 75-113% respectively and the corresponding relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 0.3-16.1% and 0.2-13.7%. The limits of quantitation were 0.23 mg/kg for AP and 0.14 mg/kg for AS. Method applicability was also demonstrated by the detection of AP in powdered infant formula purchased from local market.
A simple solvent extraction and LC-MS/MS method was developed, validated and demonstrated for the quantitative determination of AP and AS in various foods.
The validated method based on solvent extraction with LC-MS/MS detection offered a fast and simple method for the analysis of AP and AS in a wide range of foods.

PMID:
40700593
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 24 Jul 2025.

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