High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Analysis of Single-Origin Chocolates for Methylxanthine Composition and Provenance Determination

Abstract

A quantitative and qualitative high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of single-origin chocolates is presented as a laboratory experiment for an advanced analytical chemistry course. The quantitative portion involves the determination of caffeine and theobromine content by an internal standard calibration method and then a validation by comparison to a certified reference material. The qualitative component introduces students to chemometrics through the use of discriminant analysis to determine the provenance of an unknown single-origin chocolate sample.