Densitometric HPTLC Analysis of the 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural Content of Turkish Fruit Wines and Vinegars

A thin-layer chromatographic method with densitometric UV detection at 286 nm after ethyl acetate extraction is described for analysis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in fruit wines and vinegars produced in Turkey. The retention factor, hR(F), was 38 on silica gel HPTLC plates as stationary phase after development with toluene-ethyl acetate-90% formic acid 6:3:1 (v/v) as mobile phase. Recovery from samples spiked with different amounts HMF (2.0 and 5.0 ng mu L-1) was usually in the range 95-112%. The limits of detection and quantification of the method were 0.045 and 0.125 ng mL(-1), respectively. For robustness, within and between-day repeatability of the method were calculated as 4.5 and 8.6%, respectively. Seven types of Turkish fruit wines and three kind of Turkish vinegar tested were found to contain HMF in the ranges 0.5 to 13.2 ng mu L-1 and 1.0 to 33.1 ng mu L-1, respectively.