Kinetic study for a stress testing of l,l-ethylenedicysteine by ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry analysis

This study proposed a stress testing to study oxidative stability and estimate the potential shelf-life of l,l-ethylenedicysteine (l,l-EC) under normal storage temperature condition (20-25 °C). l,l-EC was detected as a function of time at four different temperatures by ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS/MS). The degradation of l,l-EC followed the first order kinetics, and the temperature-dependent kinetics was well described by the linear Arrhenius equation. The activation energy (Ea) was calculated, and the shelf-life at 25 and 4 °C was predicted. The results are useful for the proper storage and quality evaluation of l,l-EC.