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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Food Animal Metabolism Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #427596
Research Project: Detection and Fate of Environmental Chemical and Biological Residues and their Impact on the Food Supply

Location: Food Animal Metabolism Research

Title: Quantification of carbohydrates in sugar beet roots by using ultra-fast liquid chromatography coupled with time of flight mass spectrometry

Author
item Singh, Anuradha
item Thompson, Andrew
item Kandel, Shyam
item Majumdar, Rajtilak
item Pfaff, Colleen

Submitted to: Journal of Chromatography
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/31/2025
Publication Date: 9/1/2025
Citation: Singh, A., Thompson, A.R., Kandel, S.L., Majumdar, R., Pfaff, C.M. 2025. Quantification of carbohydrates in sugar beet roots by using ultra-fast liquid chromatography coupled with time of flight mass spectrometry. Journal of Chromatography. 1267:Article 124783. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchromb.2025.124783.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchromb.2025.124783

Interpretive Summary: Sugar beet roots mainly contain sucrose and a very small amount of other non-sucrose carbohydrates. Thus, these roots are used to produce table sugar (sucrose). The amount of non-sucrose carbohydrates such as fructose and raffinose create technical challenges during factory processing. Therefore, it is necessary to measure the levels of sucrose and other carbohydrates with high quantitative accuracy. The existing methods are associated with lower selectivity and sensitivity. In this study, a method was developed to measure the amount of sucrose and other carbohydrates in sugar beet roots with excellent accuracy. The identified method can be applicable and effective for sugar beet stakeholders to advance the existing practice of measuring sucrose and other carbohydrates in sugar beets.

Technical Abstract: Sugar beet roots serve as raw material for the industrial production of table sugar. Sucrose is the major carbohydrate found in sugar beet roots, along with some other minor carbohydrates such as fructose, glucose, galactose, and raffinose. The presence of non-sucrose carbohydrates, although at minor levels, can impact sugar processing and its final yield in the factory. Thus, quantification of sucrose and other carbohydrates is essential in sugar beet root prior to their processing. An ultra-fast liquid chromatography coupled with time of flight mass spectrometry (UFLC-ToFMS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous analysis of monosaccharides (fructose, glucose-galactose), a disaccharide (sucrose), and a trisaccharide (raffinose). The method was successfully applied to determine the concentration of carbohydrates in sugar beet root samples.