Analysis of 10 nucleotides and related compounds in Litopenaeus vannamei during chilled storage by HPLC-DAD

Abstract An HPLC-DAD method for the analysis of 10 nucleotides and related compounds (NRCs) in Litopenaeus vannamei was established. Hyperchloric acid was used to precipitate proteins. Samples were separated on an ODS-3 C18 (4.6 mm × 250 mm, 5 μm) column with 0.02 M phosphate buffer (pH = 5.8) as mobile phase A. All 10 NRCs were completely separated within 25 min. Good linearity was seen in the concentration range from 0 to 500 μmol/L with correlation coefficients between 0.9996 and 0.9999. Limit of detection was between 0.02 and 0.10 μg/mL and spike recoveries were between 72.5% and 110%. This method is facile, reliable, and accurate for the analysis of 10 NRCs in shrimp muscle samples. Using this method, the changes of NRCs in L . vannamei were studied during chilled storage at 4 °C. Important correlations between the changes of NRCs and the flavor/freshness of L . vannamei were proposed.