A novel reagent pre-column derivatization method for UHPLC-MS/MS to determine four α-dicarbonyl compounds in beer

The detection and analysis of α-dicarbonyl compounds (α-DCs) in food can guide the daily diet of patients with various chronic diseases. However, these compounds have poor stability, lack color-generating groups, and have low ionization efficiency. Therefore, it is difficult to monitor them. We established a new simple and sensitive method for the simultaneous determination of four α-DCs, including glyoxal (GO), methylglyoxal (MG), 2,3-butanedione (DMGO), and 3-deoxyglucosone (3-DG) in beer by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) with pre-column derivatization using 3-benzyl-2-oxo-4λ 3 -thiazolidine-4-carbohydrazide (BOTC), a novel MS probe for targeted identification of carbonyl compounds. α-DCs were derivatized with BOTC at 60 °C for 60 min, and the gradient analysis was carried out on a CSH C18 (2.1 mm × 50 mm; 1.7 μm) column for 5 min with a mobile phase A of 0.1% formic acid (FA) in water and mobile phase B of 0.1% FA in acetonitrile. The linearity range of this method was 0.39–500 μM ( R 2  ≥ 0.9995). The limits of detection (LOD) were in the range of 13–50 fmol. The average recoveries of α-DCs were 95.15–101.67%. This method was successfully applied to the detection of α-DCs in beer; the content of 3-DG was the highest, several hundred times higher than that of GO, MG, and DMGO, and the difference was significant. This new BOTC derivatization-based UHPLC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous detection of four α-DCs in beer is highly sensitive and can be used for the detection of α-DCs in alcoholic beverages. Graphical abstract