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Besides water and ethanol, the main components of beer are carbohydrates, and most of them are maltooligosaccharides. A controversial point exists in the relationship between beer foam stability and maltooligosaccharides due to the lack of effective separation methods. To reveal the relationship between maltooligosaccharides and beer foam stability, a high-performance liquid chromatography method with evaporative light-scattering detection (HPLC-ELSD) was optimized and validated to determine beer maltooligosaccharides qualitatively and quantitatively. Optimization of the maltooligosaccharide determination was accomplished on an Xbridge Amide column with gradient elution of eluent A containing acetonitrile and water (80:20, v/v) and B containing acetonitrile and water (30:70, v/v). High correlation coefficients of all calibration curves (≥0.9935), high recoveries of the method (ranging from 97.38 to 109.09%), and low relative standard deviations (<4.00%) were observed in this study, and all these showed good linear relationships and reproducibilities for the quantification of six oligosaccharides in beer. This quantification procedure is suited for the determination of beer maltooligosaccharides because of its good linearity, excellent accuracy, and high precision. Correlation analysis of beer foam stability and maltooligosaccharides was further studied using Origin software, showing that maltooligosaccharides had a relatively positive influence on foam stability (R2 = 0.73381). Moreover, different distributions of maltooligosaccharides in beer and beer foam reconfirmed that the maltooligosaccharides are of vital importance to the maintenance of foam quality. Keywords: Beer, ELSD, Foam stability, HPLC, Maltooligosaccharides
