Determination of glucose, fructose, sucrose, and lactose in chocolate based matrices using HPIC with pulsed amperometric detection

Pulsed amperometry is a powerful detection method for carbohydrates that does not require derivatisation of the sample, and this is particularly useful if coupled with high performance ionic chromatography (HPIC). Pulsed amperometric detection (PAD) utilises an amperometric cell with a gold working electrode and pulsed waveform of potentials and allows direct and selective determination of electroactive compounds containing amine, hydroxyl, or sulphur functions. High performance ionic chromatography coupled with pulsed amperometric detection was used for the determination of glucose, fructose, sucrose, and lactose in chocolate based matrices. The sample, opportunely diluted and purified, was injected on a PA10 column and quantified using the external standard method.