Measurement of fructose, glucose, maltose and sucrose in barley malt using attenuated total reflectance mid-infrared spectroscopy

The objective of the present study was to develop a simple, rapid and accurate method for the determination of glucose, fructose, maltose and sucrose in barley malt using attenuated total reflectance (ATR) mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy. A total of 100 malt samples were analysed using an ATR-MIR instrument and the concentration of individual sugars determined using HPLC. Partial least squares (PLS) regression models yielded a coefficient of determination in cross validation (R2) and standard error in cross validation (SECV) of 0.64 (1.38 mg mL−1), 0.84 (0.12 mg mL−1), 0.80 (8.3 mg mL−1), and 0.60 (0.91 mg mL−1) for glucose, fructose, maltose and sucrose, respectively. This study demonstrated the potential benefits of ATR-MIR spectroscopy for the rapid measurement of the concentration of individual sugars in malt samples sourced from different commercial barley varieties, harvest seasons and localities. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.