Simultaneous determination of melamine and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in milk by capillary electrophoresis with diode array detection

Abstract

This article describes the development of a simple analytical approach for the simultaneous determination of melamine and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in milk samples using capillary electrophoresis (CE) with diode array detection (DAD) for the first time. Ultraviolet absorption at wavelengths of 214 and 280 nm was applied for the detection of melamine and HMF, respectively. Milk samples were extracted with 1% trichloroacetic acid using a high-speed blender and ultrasonication. After centrifugation and filtration, the extract was analyzed by CE-DAD directly. Micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography was employed as the separation mode by adding sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) to the electrolyte. Under optimal separation conditions, melamine, HMF, and interferents were well resolved. The linear dynamic ranges were 0.05-100 microg/mL for melamine (R(2) = 0.9996) and 0.1-100 microg/mL for HMF (R(2) = 0.9997). The assay detection limits were 0.047 microg/mL and 0.067 microg/mL for melamine and HMF, respectively. Satisfactory results were obtained for the assay recovery rate and repeatability. The proposed method was successfully applied for the analysis of melamine and HMF in real milk samples, and the results of melamine were comparable to those obtained using HPLC-UV reference method.