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How to analyse stevia

Steviol glycosides are the main sweetening compounds in Stevia rebaudiana and can be used as natural sugar substitutes with up to 400 times higher sweetening effect compared to sucrose or glucose.

We put quite some research effort into stevia and its components to enable the most efficient and rapid separations of the different plant extracts of stevia.
To increase purification and analysis efficiency partly automated sample preparation and matrix reduction could be used for stevia food products.

Can online SPE make a robust preparative HPLC of steviol glycosides from stevia leaves possible?

In order to enable commercial use in the quality assurance of the crude products and for the production of high-purity reference compounds, the plant extract must be purified, since matrix components stress the separation column and reduce the loadability.
Sample cleaning by solid-phase extraction (SPE) is a potential approach because it can be automated. In this application, we are investigating the success in matrix removal and the achievable yield of pure rebaudioside A and stevioside.

What is Online SPE?

Automated sample pre-purification by solid-phase extraction with HPLC coupling. The use of online solid phase extraction (SPE) coupling avoids time consuming and manual sample preparation steps, making the method well-suited for routine analyses of BPA in low concentration samples like drinking water.

Advantages of Online SPE: on-line SPE technique offers increased sensitivity with reduced sample handling as all the extracted components can easily be introduced to the analytical column.

Goals of preparative Online SPE:

  • Matrix reduction
  • Concentration of the analyte
  • Protection of the main column

More HPLC food analysis 

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