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Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (34): 129-136.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb2025-0752

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Determination of 16 Free Amino Acids in Cigar Tobacco Leaves by Pre-column Derivatization-high Performance Liquid Chromatography

ZHOU Ting1,2(), CHEN Qi1,2, ZHANG Jing3, LI Ping3(), YUE Xiaolin3, TAN Wenyuan3, WANG Lan3, JIN Yile1,2, GAO Yunpeng1,2   

  1. 1 Great Wall Cigar Factory, China Tobacco Sichuan Industrial Co., Ltd., Shifang, Sichuan 618400
    2 Development & Industrial Efficient Utilization of Domestic Cigar Tobacco Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Shifang, Sichuan 618400
    3 School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Zigong, Sichuan 643000
  • Received:2025-09-05 Revised:2025-11-12 Online:2025-12-04 Published:2025-12-04

Abstract:

Free amino acid is an important flavor chemical component in cigar leaves, and its accurate and rapid determination is of great significance for cigar quality evaluation. A method for the simultaneous determination of 16 amino acids in cigar leaves was established based on pre-column derivatization-reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography. The optimal detection conditions were determined by optimizing the key parameters such as column temperature, flow rate, ultrasonic extraction time and derivatization time. The methodological performance was systematically investigated and applied to the analysis of 40 cigar leaf samples from different producing areas, parts and grades. The correlation between amino acid content and sample attributes was revealed by radar map. The results showed that the contents of 16 amino acids were in the range of 2.5-400 mg/L, the linear correlation coefficient R2≥0.998, the detection limit was 0.014-0.096 mg/L, the quantitative limit was 0.047-0.320 mg/L, the recovery rate was 89.05%-107.08%, and the relative standard deviation was 1.25%-5.72%. The method was accurate and reliable. The analysis of actual samples showed that the amino acid content in cigar leaves had significant correlations with the producing area (the overall content in B area was higher), the position (upper leaf> middle leaf> lower leaf), and the grade (second grade > third grade > fourth grade). The method has the advantages of simple operation, good separation effect and high sensitivity, and can be used for the detection of amino acid content and quality grading evaluation of cigar tobacco leaves.

Key words: precolumn derivatization, high performance liquid chromatography, cigar, amino acid, extraction, assaying, quality evaluation