Validation of a nanoliquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the identification and the accurate quantification by isotopic dilution of glutathionylated and cysteinylated precursors of 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol and 4-mercapto-4-methylpentan-2-one in white grape juices.

A rapid nanoLC-MS/MS method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of glutathionylated and cysteinylated precursors of 3-mercapto-hexan-1-ol (3MH) and 4-methyl-4-mercaptopentan-2-one in grape juice using stable isotope dilution assay (SIDA). The analytes were extracted from must using a cation exchange resin and purified on C18 cartridges. They were chromatographically separated on a reverse phase column and finally analyzed by tandem mass spectrometry in selected reaction monitoring mode (SRM) using deuterated analogues as standards except for glutathionylated conjugate of 4MMP which was analyzed by external calibration. The method was validated according to the International Conference on Harmonization recommendations by determining linearity, accuracy, precision, recovery, matrix effect, repeatability, intermediate reproducibility, LODs and LOQs. Calibration for each precursor was determined by performing Lack-of-Fit test and the best fitting for 3MH precursors was a quadratic model whereas a linear model was better adapted for 4MMP precursors. All calibration curves showed quite satisfactory correlation coefficients (R(2)>0.995 for SIDA quantification and R(2)>0.985 for external calibration). Quantification by SIDA and external calibration allowed a high level of accuracy since the averaged value ranged from 80 to 108%. Quantification of aroma precursors was accurate and reproducible over five days since intermediate precision (same analyst, same sample and same apparatus), which was evaluated by the calculation of RSD was inferior to 16%. Limits of quantification for G3MH and G4MMP were closed to 0.50 and 0.07 nmol/L and as 4.75 and 1.90 nmol/L for Cys3MH and Cys4MMP respectively. This method was applied to the quantification of precursors into several types of grape juices: Melon B., Sauvignon, Riesling and Gewurztraminer.