A high performance liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of malic acid, acetic acid, citric acid, amygdalin, benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, and benzoic acid in pickled Japanese apricots (Umeboshi) was developed. TSKgel ODS-100s was used as the separation column, and the mixture of 0.1% phosphoric acid and methanol was used as mobile phase. Detection wavelength was at 210nm. All compounds were eluted within 30 minutes. In three commercial pickled Japanese apricots, 4μg/g -46mg/g of malic acid, acetic acid, citric acid and benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde were detected. In the pickled Japanese apricots, amygdalin was detected.
