ION-EXCLUSION CHROMATOGRAPHIC DETERMINATION OF ORGANIC-ACIDS IN VINEGARS

A new ion-exclusion HPLC procedure for the determination of organic ac ids in vinegars under isocratic elution was developed. Optimum experim ental conditions for pH of the eluent, column temperature and mobile p hase flow-rate were estimated from a factorial design. The method was successfully validated and enables the reliable separation of major or ganic acids in wine vinegars (i.e. tartaric, citric, malic, lactic and acetic acid) in about 25 min. It was applied to the analysis of diffe rent vinegar samples. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserv ed.