Establishment of Quantitatively Analytical Methods for the Determination of Aroma Components in Edible Spices Using a Homemade Chromatographic Monolithic Column

A 5-cm-long polymer-based chromatographic monolith was fabricated and used as the stationary phase for high-performance liquid chromatography to quantitatively determine six aroma compounds in edible spices, namely, anethole from star anise, trans -cinnamaldehyde from cinnamon, hydroxy-alpha-sanshool from zanthoxylum, as well as 6-gingerol, 8-gingerol, and 10-gingerol from ginger. The prepared monolith was characterized using scanning electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption–desorption method, and mercury intrusion porosimetry, respectively, indicating the relative uniform porous structure of the monolithic material. The quantitatively analytical method using the homemade monolithic column was validated, and the values of the relative standard deviation for precision were in the ranges of 0.27–8.90% for intra-day and 0.93–8.28% for inter-day measurements. The values of accuracy, expressed by spiked recovery, were all within the range of 92.02–118.59%. Furthermore, real species obtained from different habitats were detected using the present method. All of the results indicate that the present method is a simple, time-saving, inexpensive, and efficient method for quantitatively analyzing aroma components from edible spices, and exhibits good specificity and durability.