Quantification of maltol in Korean ginseng ( Panax ginseng) products by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector

Background: Maltol, as a type of phenolic compounds, is produced by the browning reaction during the high-temperature treatment of ginseng. Thus, maltol can be used as a marker for the quality control of various ginseng products manufactured by high-temperature treatment including red ginseng. For the quantification of maltol in Korean ginseng products, an effective high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) method was developed. Materials and Methods: The HPLC-DAD method for maltol quantification coupled with a liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) method was developed and validated in terms of linearity, precision, and accuracy. An HPLC separation was performed on a C18 column: Results: The LLE methods and HPLC running conditions for maltol quantification were optimized. The calibration curve of the maltol exhibited good linearity (R-2 = 1.00). The limit of detection value of maltol was 0.26 mu g/mL, and the limit of quantification value was 0.79 mu g/mL. The relative-standard deviations (RSDs) of the data of the intra- and inter-day experiments were <1.27% and 0.61%, respectively. The results of the recovery test were 101.35-101.75% with an RSD value of 0.21-1.65%. The developed method was applied successfully to quantify the maltol in three ginseng products manufactured by different methods. Conclusion: The results of validation demonstrated that the proposed HPLC-DAD method was useful for the quantification-of maltol in various ginseng products.