Quantitative determination of carbohydrates in orange juice by gas chromatography

 A gas chromatographic method using a capillary column is described for the quantitative analysis of fructose, glucose, sucrose and myo-inositol in orange juice. The method is evaluated for precision and recovery using phenyl-β-glucoside as an internal standard. The results support the suitability of the method. Carbohydrates (fructose, glucose, sucrose and myo-inositol) were determined in different kinds of orange juice. The determination of carbohydrate composition and ratios of the carbohydrate constituents provide a method to assess orange juice quality, especially the myo-inositol content and myo-inositol/fructose ratio. These new indices, which were found to be lower in samples made from concentrates, provide information on the quality and genuineness of orange juice.