Rapid method for determination of anthocyanin glucosides and free delphinidin in grapes using u-HPLC.

A rapid method for the determination of anthocyanin glucosides and free delphinidin in food using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (u-HPLC) was validated through tests of precision, accuracy and linearity. The u-HPLC separation was performed on a reversed-phase C18 column (particle size 2 µm, i.d. 2 mm, length 100 mm) with a photodiode array detector. The limits of detection and quantification of the u-HPLC analyses ranged from 0.07 to 0.65 mg/kg for nine types of anthocyanin glucosides and from 0.08 to 0.26 mg/kg for delphinidin aglycone. The intra-day and inter-day precision of individual anthocyanin glucosides and delphinidin aglycone were less than 9.42%. All calibration curves showed good linearity (coefficient of determination = 0.99) within the tested ranges. The rapid and simultaneous u-HPLC method presented in this study significantly improved the speed, sensitivity and resolution of the analyses of nine types of anthocyanin glucosides and free delphidinin aglycone in grapes.