Simultaneous determination of taurine, glucuronolactone and glucuronic acid in energy drinks by ultra high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (triple quadrupole)

• Determination of taurine, glucurolactone and glucuronic acid in energy drinks by UHPLC–MS/MS.
• Good analytical performance due to the use of a Kinetex Hilic column and a triple quadrupole as mass analyzer.
• The level of taurine in the analyzed samples matched with that reported in the labels.

In this work, we present for the first time a rapid and robust UHPLC–MS/MS method for analyzing taurine, GlcLA and GlcA in energy drinks simultaneously and without derivatization. The separation of three analytes was achieved using a Kinetex Hilic analytical column (100 mm × 4.6 mm i.d.) and a mobile phase formed by water (A) and acetonitrile (B) both with formic acid 0.1% at a flow rate of 0.8 ml min−1 with isocratic elution in 3.5 min. Calibration curves were calculated using the method of standard addition in a concentration range from 2 to 6 mg/100 ml for taurine (R2 > 0.987), from 0.4 to 1.2 mg/100 ml for GlcLa (R2 > 0.997), and from 0.2 to 0.6 mg/100 ml for GlcA acid (R2 > 0.998). The validated method was applied to the analysis of nine commercial energy drinks. The level of taurine found ranged from 0.01 to 0.45 g/100 ml, and it matched with that reported in the labels of the analyzed energy drink samples.