Determination of kava lactones in food supplements by liquid chromatography–atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation tandem mass spectrometry

Reversed-phase liquid chromatography and detection with atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation tandem mass spectrometry was used for the determination of kava extracts in herbal mixtures. One percent of kava extract can be detected, corresponding to approximately 0.05–0.2 mg/g of the individual kava lactones kavain, dihydrokavain, yangonin, desmethoxyyangonin, methysticin and dihydromethysticin. Reliable quantification is obtained from concentrations of 0.25–1 mg/g, depending on the compound. At these concentration levels, the relative standard deviations were 10–14%. Validation showed good linearity and recoveries for all the kava lactones with the exception of yangonin. During method development, degradation of yangonin was observed. The degradation product was identified by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) as cis-yangonin. The method was applied to the analysis of commercial herbal products available in the Dutch market before and after market restrictions of kava-containing preparations. The results showed that even though ‘old’ products contained kava extract, the new formulations were negative on kava lactones. cis-Yangonin was also present in the herbal products.