Simultaneous determination of sucralose and related compounds by high-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detection

Sucralose is widely used in food and beverages as sweetener. Current synthesis approaches typically provide sucralose products with varying levels of related chlorinated carbohydrates which can affect the taste and flavor-modifying properties of sucralose. Quantification of related compounds in sucralose is often hampered by the lack of commercially available standards. In this work, nine related compounds were purified (purity > 97%) and identified by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), then a rapid and simple HPLC coupled with evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD) method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of sucralose and related compounds. Under optimized conditions, the method showed good linearity in the range of 2-600 μg mL−1 with determination coefficients R2 ⩾ 0.9990. Moreover, low limits of detection in the range of 0.5-2.0 μg mL−1 and good repeatability (RSD < 3%, n = 6) were obtained. Recoveries were from 96.8% to 101.2%. Finally, the method has been successfully applied to sucralose quality control and purification process monitoring.