Quantification of phenolic acids and their methylates, glucuronides, sulfates and lactones metabolites in human plasma by LC-MS/MS after oral ingestion of soluble coffee.

Chlorogenic acids and derivatives like phenolic acids are potentially bioactive phenolics, which are commonly found in many foods. Once absorbed, chlorogenic and phenolic acids are highly metabolized by the intestine and the liver, producing glucuronidated and/or sulphated compounds. These metabolites were analyzed in human plasma using a validated liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) method. After protein precipitation, phenolic acids and their metabolites were extracted by using ethanol and chromatographic separation was achieved by reversed-phase using an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column combined with a gradient elution system using 1% acetic acid aqueous solution and 1% acetic acid with 100% acetonitrile. The method was able to quantify 56 different compounds including 24 phenolic acids, 4 lactones, 15 sulfates and 13 glucuronides metabolites between 5 and 1000nM in plasma for most of them, except for m-dihydrocoumaric acid, 5-ferulloylquinic-glucuronide, 4-methoxycinnamic acid, 3-phenylpropionic acid, 3-(4-methoxyphenyl)propionic acid (25 to 1000nM) and p-dihydrocoumaric acid (50-1000nM). Values of repeatability and intermediate reproducibility were below 15% of deviation in general, and maximum 20% for the lowest concentrations. The validated method was successfully applied to quantify phenolic acids and their metabolites in plasma obtained after oral ingestion of soluble coffee. In conclusion, the developed and validated method is proved to be very sensitive, accurate and precise for the quantification of these possible dietary phenols.