Greener method proposal for the determination of phenolic compounds and coumarins in aged sugarcane spirits using green bio-based solvents in HPLC-DAD-FLD system

• Use of green bio-based solvents in HPLC-DAD-FLD system. • Phenolic compounds and coumarins in sugarcane spirits aged in Brazilian woods. • Coumarin concentration was within the maximum limit of legislation for all samples. • The chromatographic method presented an AGREE score of 0.72. • The proposed method was advantageous from a green analytical chemistry point of view. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) has been the most used analytical technique for analyzing phenolic compounds and coumarins in aged sugarcane spirit samples. It requires a significant amount of organic solvents, often toxic, as the mobile phase. The use of green bio-based solvents is a good alternative in the implementing more eco-friendly methods. Therefore, this work aims to propose a greener chromatographic method for the determination of phenolic compounds and coumarins in sugarcane spirit samples aged in different woods, using bio-based organic solvents (ethanol and acetic acid) in HPLC system with diode array and fluorescence detectors. Different metric tools (AGREE, ComplexMoGAPI, BAGI and Analytical Eco-scale) were used to evaluate the greenness of the analytical method. The proposed method was rigorously validated: linearity (R 2 ≥ 0.9901); LOD (0.05 to 0.55 mg l -1 ); LOQ (0.25 to 5.00 mg l -1 ); precision (0.13 % ≤ RSD ≤ 18.6 %). The concentrations of total phenolic compounds and coumarins were up to 7.22 mg l -1 . The sugarcane spirit aged in umburana presented the highest concentration of total phenolic compounds and coumarins with emphasis on trans -cinnamic acid (4.74 ± 0.01 mg l -1 ) and catechin (1.22 ± 0.02 mg l -1 ). All samples presented coumarin concentrations (<5.00 mg l -1 ) within the limit acceptable by legislation (10 mg l -1 ). The AGREE score (0.72) showed that the proposed method was greener and sustainable compared to other methods. The application of new mobile phase using green bio-based solvents proved to be advantageous from a Green Analytical Chemistry point of view.