Analysis of carbohydrates in Sicilian DOC wines by high performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detection

A high performance liquid chromatographic method with low temperature evaporative light scattering detection (HPLC-LT ELSD) was developed for the direct analysis of some pentoses, hexoses and disaccharides in Sicilian Controlled Denomination of Origin (DOC) wines. The chromatographic separation was performed using a Prevail Carbohydrate ES column under isocratic conditions with a mixture of water-acetonitrile. The detection limits of ELSD (S/N=3) were between 7 and 30 mg/L for different carbohydrates, whereas precision and accuracy were 4.2 and 96.5%, respectively. Glucose and fructose were the most abundant sugars in all the wines. Residual levels of xylose, rhamnose and lactose were detected only in Marsalas; maltose was present in all the Sicilian wines.