The aim of this work is the development of a simple, fast and quantitative method for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) potentially generated by roasting coffee beans. The roasting process is the most important in the coffee industry for the development of the characteristic flavor of the bean mix. The method involves Soxhlet extraction with hexane, clean-up based on silica adsorption chromatography, concentration to dryness and injection of the acetonitrile solution of the residue for HPLC analysis with fluorescence detection. The method allowed confirming or not the presence of the 12 selected PAHs in green coffee and roasted coffee bean samples.
