A single line flow injection analysis (FIA) method that incorporated a preconcentrator column packed with C(18) particles and capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detector (C(4)D) was developed for the determination of free fatty acid (FFA) in vegetable oils. The carrier stream was methanol/1.5 mM sodium acetate (pH 8) 80:20 (v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min(-1). Calibration curve was well correlated (r(2)=0.9995) within the range of 1-200 mg L(-1) FFA (expressed as palmitic acid). Sampling rate of 40-60 h(-1) was achieved. Good agreement was found between the standard non-aqueous titrimetry method and the proposed method when applied to the determination of FFA in palm (crude, olein, and refined, bleached and deodorised) and other vegetable (soybean, rice bran, walnut, corn and olive) oils. The proposed method offers distinct advantages over the official method, especially in terms of simplicity, high sampling rate, economy of solvents and sample, offering considerable promise as a low cost automated system that needs minimum human intervention over long periods of time.
A novel microextraction method based on vortex- and CO2 -assisted liquid-liquid microextraction with salt addition for the isolation of furanic compounds (5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde, 5-methyl-2-furaldehyde, 2-furaldehyde, 3-furaldehyde, 2-furoic and 3-furoic acids) was developed. Purging the sample with CO2 was applied after vortexing to enhance the phase separation and mass transfer of the analytes. The optimum extraction conditions were: extraction solvent (volume), propyl acetate (125 μL); sample pH, 2.4; vortexing time, 45 s; salt concentration, 25% w/v and purging time, 5 min. The analytes were separated using an ODS Hypersil C18 column (250×4.6 mm i.d, 5 μm) under gradient flow. The proposed method showed good linearities (r(2) >0.999), low detection limits (0.08-1.9 μg/L) and good recoveries (80.7-122%). The validated method was successfully applied for the determination of the furanic compounds in concentrated juice (mango, date, orange, pomegranate, roselle, mangosteen and soursop) and dried fruit (prune, date and apricot paste) samples.
A fast and simple solvent microextraction technique using salting out-vortex-assisted liquid-liquid microextraction (salting out-VALLME) was developed for the extraction of furfurals (2-furfural (2-F), 3-furfural (3-F), 5-methylfurfural (5-MF) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF)) and patulin (PAT) in fruit juice samples. The optimum extraction conditions for 5 mL sample were: extraction solvent, 1-hexanol; volume of extractant, 200 µL; vortex time, 45 s; salt addition, 20%. The simultaneous determination of the furfurals and PAT were investigated using high performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). The separation was performed using ODS Hypersil C18 column (4.6 mm i.d × 250 mm, 5 μm) under gradient elution. The detection wavelengths used for all compounds were 280 nm except for 3-F (210 nm). The furfurals and PAT were successfully separated in less than 9 min. Good linearities (r(2)>0.99) were obtained within the range 1-5000 μg L(-1) for all compounds except for 3-F (10-5000 µg L(-1)) and PAT (0.5-100 μg L(-1)). The limits of detection (0.28-3.2 µg L(-1)) were estimated at S/N ratio of 3. The validated salting out-VALLME-HPLC method was applied for the analysis of furfurals and PAT in fruit juice samples (apple, mango and grape).
A capillary electrophoresis (CE)-capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C(4)D) method for the simultaneous separation of eleven underivatized fatty acids (FAs), namely, lauric, myristic, tridecanoic (internal standard), pentadecanoic, palmitic, stearic, oleic, elaidic, linoleic, linolenic and arachidic acids is described. The separation was carried out in normal polarity mode at 20 °C, 30 kV and using hydrodynamic injection (50 mbar for 1 s). The separation was achieved in a bare fused-silica capillary (70 cm × 75 μm i.d.) using a background electrolyte of methyl-β-cyclodextrin (~6 mM) and heptakis-(2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin (~8 mM) dissolved in a mixture of Na2HPO4/KH2PO4 (5 mM, pH 7.4):ACN:MeOH:n-octanol (3:4:2.5:0.5, v/v/v/v). C(4)D parameters were set at fixed amplitude of 100 V and frequency of 1000 kHz. The developed method was validated. Calibration curves of the ten FAs were well correlated (r(2)>0.99) within the range of 5-250 μg mL(-1) for lauric acid, and 3-250 μg mL(-1) for the other FAs. The method was simple and sensitive with detection limits (S/N=3) of 0.9-1.9 μg mL(-1) and good relative standard deviations of intra- and inter-day for migration times and peak areas (≤9.7%) were achieved. The method was applied to the determination of FAs in margarine samples. The proposed method offers distinct advantages over the GC and HPLC methods, especially in terms of simplicity (without derivatization) and sensitivity.
An in-vial liquid-liquid microextraction method was developed for the selective extraction of the phenolic acids (caffeic, gallic, cinnamic, ferulic, chlorogenic, syringic, vanillic, benzoic, p-hydroxybenzoic, 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic, o-coumaric, m-coumaric and p-coumaric) in vegetable oil samples. The optimised extraction conditions for 20 g sample were: volume of diluent (n-hexane), 2 mL; extractant, methanol: 5 mM sodium hydroxide (60:40; v/v); volume of extractant, 300 μL (twice); vortex, 1 min; centrifugation, 5 min. Recoveries for the studied phenolic acids were 80.1-119.5%. The simultaneous determination of the phenolic acid extracts was investigated by capillary electrophoresis (CE). Separations were carried out on a bare fused-silica capillary (50 μm i.d.× 40 cm length) involving 25 mM sodium tetraborate (pH 9.15) and 5% methanol as CE background electrolyte in the normal polarity mode, voltage of 30 kV, temperature of 25°C, injection time of 4s (50 mbar) and electropherograms were recorded at 200 nm. The phenolic acids were successfully separated in less than 10 min. The validated in-vial LLME-CE method was applied to the determination of phenolic acids in vegetable oil samples (extra virgin olive oil, virgin olive oil, pure olive oil, walnut oil and grapeseed oil). The developed method shows significant advantages over the current methods as lengthy evaporation step is not required.
A new, rapid and sensitive microextraction technique named vortex-assisted liquid-liquid-liquid microextraction (VALLLME) is proposed. The complete extraction process involves two steps. First, a vortex-assisted liquid-liquid microextraction (VALLME) procedure was used to extract the analytes from a relatively large volume of sample (donor phase) to a small volume of organic solvent (intermediate phase). Next, a micro-vortex-assisted liquid-liquid extraction (µ-VALLE) was used to extract the target analytes from the intermediate phase to a smaller volume of aqueous solution (acceptor phase). The final extract (acceptor phase) can be directly injected into the high performance liquid chromatography or capillary electrophoresis units without any further treatments. The selection of the intermediate phase and the manipulation of pH are key parameters that ensure good extraction efficiency of the technique. The proposed technique has been successfully applied for the determination of carvedilol (used as model analyte) in biological fluid samples. The optimum extraction conditions were: toluene as intermediate phase (150 μL); pH of the donor phase, 9.5; vortex time of the VALLME, 45 s (maximum speed, 2500 rpm); 0.1M HCl (15 μL) as acceptor phase; vortexing time of the µ-VALLME, 75 s (maximum stirring speed, 2500 rpm) and salt concentration in the donor phase, 5% (w/v). Under these conditions, enrichment factors of 51- and 418-fold for VALLME step and VALLLME procedure, respectively, were achieved.
BACKGROUND: A simple and sensitive hollow fiber-liquid phase microextraction with in situ derivatization method was developed for the determination of α-ketoglutaric (α-KG) and pyruvic acids (PA) in small-volume urine samples. 2,4,6-trichloro phenyl hydrazine was used as derivatization agent.
RESULTS: Under the optimum extraction conditions, enrichment factors of 742 and 400 for α-KG and PA, respectively, were achieved. Calibration curves were linear over the range 1 to 1000 ng/ml (r(2) ≥ 0.998). Detection and quantitation limits were 0.03 and 0.02, and 0.10 and 0.05 ng/ml for α-KG and PA, respectively.
CONCLUSION: The concentrations in diabetic II and liver cancer samples were significantly lower than those from healthy people, showing their potential as biomarkers for these diseases.
A hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME) in conjunction with reversed phase HPLC-UV method was developed for the extraction and determination of trace amounts of the antidiabetic drug, mitiglinide (MIT) in biological fluids. The drug was extracted from 10 mL aqueous sample (donor phase (DP)) into an organic phase impregnated in the pores of hollow fiber, followed by the back extraction into a second aqueous solution (acceptor phase (AP)) located in the lumen of the hollow fiber. Parameters influencing the extraction efficiency including the kind of organic solvent, composition of DP and AP, extraction time, stirring rate and salt addition were investigated and optimized. Under the optimized extraction conditions, high enrichment factors (210-fold), good linearity (5-1000 ng mL(-1)) and detection limit lower than 1.38 ng mL(-1) were achieved. Recoveries of spiked samples were in the range (88.3-96.3%) and (92.0-99.3%) for urine and plasma samples, respectively. The percent relative standard deviation (n=9) for the extraction and determination of three concentration levels (100, 400 and 800 ng mL(-1)) of MIT were less than 10.6% and 13.6% for urine and plasma samples, respectively. The developed method is simple, sensitive and has been successfully applied to the analysis of MIT in biological fluids.
The development of a two phase hollow fiber liquid-phase microextraction technique, followed by gas-chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) for the profiling of the fatty acids (FAs) (lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic, palmitoleic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic and arachidic) in vegetable oils is described. Heptadecanoic acid methyl ester was used as the internal standard. The FAs were transesterified to their corresponding methyl esters prior to the extraction. Extraction parameters such as type of extracting solvent, temperature, extraction time, stirring speed and salt addition were studied and optimized. Recommended conditions were extraction solvent, n-tridecane; extraction time, 35 min; extraction temperature, ambient; without addition of salt. Enrichment factors varying from 37 to 115 were achieved. Calibration curves for the nine FAs were well correlated (r(2)>0.994) within the range of 10-5000 μg L(-1). The limit of detection (signal:noise, 3) was 4.73-13.21 ng L(-1). The method was successfully applied to the profiling of the FAs in palm oils (crude, olein, kernel, and carotino cooking oil) and other vegetable oils (soybean, olive, coconut, rice bran and pumpkin). The encouraging enrichments achieved offer an interesting option for the profiling of the minor and major FAs in palm and other vegetable oils.
A sorbent material based on a newly synthesized hydrazone ligand, 4-hydroxy-N'-[(E)-(2-hydroxyphenyl)methylidene]benzohydrazide was prepared by immobilizing the ligand into a silica sol-gel matrix. The capability of the sorbent material for the extraction of seven biogenic amines (BAs), i.e., tryptamine (TRY), beta-phenylethylamine (PEA), putrescine (PUT), cadaverine (CAD), histamine (HIS), tyramine (TYR), and spermidine (SPD) was studied. Under the adopted conditions, the sorbent showed good selectivity towards PUT, CAD, HIS and SPD (% extraction (%E)>96) while %E for TYR, TRY and PEA were 82.0, 78.9 and 46.4%, respectively. The sorbent could be used up to six extraction cycles for SPD, CAD and PUT and was applied to the determination of food samples ("budu", ketchup, orange juice, soy sauce) that were spiked with 20 mg L(-1) of the BAs. The extracted analytes were derivatized with dansyl chloride before the HPLC determination. With the exception of HIS and TYR in "budu" sample, reasonable recoveries were found for the other analytes in all the tested food samples.
A rapid and green analytical method based on capillary electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C⁴D) for the determination of eight environmental pollutants, the biogenic amines (putrescine, cadaverine, spermidine, spermine, tyramine, 2-phenylamine, histamine and tryptamine), is described. The separation was achieved under normal polarity mode at 24 °C and 25 kV with a hydrodynamic injection (50 mbar for 5 s) and using a bare fused-silica capillary (95 cm length × 50 µm i.d.) (detection length of 10.5 cm from the outlet end of the capillary). The optimized background electrolyte consisted of 400 mM malic acid. C⁴D parameters were set at a fixed amplitude (50 V) and frequency (600 kHz). Under the optimum conditions, the method exhibited good linearity over the range of 1.0⁻100 µg mL−1 (R² ≥ 0.981). The limits of detection based on signal to noise (S/N) ratios of 3 and 10 were ≤0.029 µg mL−1. The method was used for the determination of seawater samples that were spiked with biogenic amines. Good recoveries (77⁻93%) were found.
A vortex-assisted liquid-liquid-liquid microextraction method followed by high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection for the determination of fourteen phenolic acids (cinnamic, m-coumaric, chlorogenic, syringic, ferulic, o-coumaric, p-coumaric, vanillic, p-hydroxybenzoic, caffeic, 2, 4-dihydroxybenzoic, sinapic, gentisic and gallic acids) in honey, iced tea and canned coffee drink samples has been developed. The separation was achieved using a Poroshell 120-EC-C18 column under a gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.6mLmin-1 and mobile phase composed of methanol and acetic acid (1%, v/v). Under the optimum chromatographic conditions, the fourteen phenolic acids were separated in less than 32min. The extraction was performed using a small volume (400µL) of ternary organic solvents (1-pentanol, propyl acetate and 1-hexanol) dispersed into the aqueous sample (10mL) and assisted by vortex agitation (2500rpm for 45s), the analytes were next back-extracted from the organic solvent using 0.02M KOH (40µL) with vortex speed and time of 2500rpm and 60s, respectively. Under these conditions, enrichment factors of 30-193-fold were achieved. The limits of detection (LODs) were 0.05-0.68µgL-1. Recoveries in honey, iced tea and canned coffee drinks were in the range 72.2-112%. The method was successfully applied for the determination of the phenolic acids in honey, iced tea and canned coffee drinks.
The measurement of α-dicarbonyls and other degradation products of sugars has become important in view of their toxicity. Although there are several methods used for their analysis, most require long reaction times to form UV absorbing or fluorescent derivatives and the nonpolar nature of commonly used derivatives necessitates relatively high concentrations of organic solvents for elution in reverse phase liquid chromatography. The present method describes the use of Girard-T reagent in a simple, one step derivatization of α-dicarbonyls and conjugated aldehydes and analysis using ion-pair reverse phase liquid chromatography. The limit of detection was in the range of 0.06-0.09 μM (4-12 ng/mL) for glyoxal, methylglyoxal, 3-deoxyglucosone and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural with good linear response and reproducibility using UV detection. The hydrazone derivatives were stable for several days in solution. The method was used to study degradation of several sugars and quantification of the target α-dicarbonyls and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in several soft drinks.
The determination of aflatoxin M1 in milk using high performance liquid chromatography with photochemical post-column derivatization and fluorescence detection is described. The samples were first extracted and clean-up using the immunoaffinity AFLATEST column originally targeted for aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2. The separation of aflatoxin M1 were performed using C18 Hypersil gold (150mm×4.6mm, 5μm) column at 40°C under isocratic elution. Fluorescence detector (FLD) was set at 360nm and 440nm as excitation and emission, respectively. The use of methanol to replace acetonitrile as the mobile phase resulted in ∼67% peak area enhancement of AFM1. The limit of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of the analytical method after post-column derivatization without evaporation/reconstitution with mobile phase was 0.0085μgL(-1) and 0.025μgL(-1) respectively. However, LOD and LOQ improved to 0.002 and 0.004μgL(-1) respectively with the addition of evaporation/reconstitution step. The method was statistically validated, showing linear response (R(2)>0.999), good recoveries (85.2-107.0%) and relative standard deviations (RSD) were found to be ≤7%. The proposed method was applied to determine AFM1 contamination in various types of milk and milk products. Only 2 samples were contaminated with aflatoxin M1 (10% incidence). However, the contamination level is below the Malaysian and European legislation limits.
A three phase hollow fiber liquid-phase microextraction with in situ derivatization (in situ HF-LPME) followed by high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) method was developed for the trace determination of metformin hydrochloride (MH) in biological fluids. A new derivatization agent pentafluorobenzoyl chloride (PFBC) was used. Several parameters that affect the derivatization and extraction efficiency were studied and optimized (i.e., type of organic solvent, volume of NaOH (4M) and derivatization agent in the donor phase, acceptor phase (HCl) concentration, stirring speed, temperature, time and salt addition). Under the optimum conditions (organic solvent, dihexyl ether; volume of NaOH (4M) and derivatization agent (10mg PFBC in 1mL acetonitrile) in the donor phase, 600 and100μL, respectively; acceptor phase, 100mM HCl (10μL); stirring speed, 300rpm; extraction time, 30min; derivatization temperature, 70°C; without addition of salt) an enrichment factor of 210-fold was achieved. Good linearity was observed over the range of 1-1000ngmL(-1) (r(2)=0.9998). The limits of detection and quantitation were 0.56 and 1.68ngmL(-1), respectively. The proposed method has been applied for the determination of MH in biological fluids (plasma and urine) and water samples. Prior to the microextraction treatment of plasma samples, deproteinization step using acetonitrile was conducted. The proposed method is simple, rapid, sensitive and suitable for the determination of MH in a variety of samples.
A new analytical method for the simultaneous determination of the antidiabetic drugs rosiglitazone (ROS) and metformin hydrochloride (MH) with marked differences in their affinity towards organic solvents (log P of 2.4 and -1.43, respectively) was developed. Prior to the HPLC separation, the drugs were subjected to a sequential hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME) procedure. Two sequential HF-LPME approaches were considered, the preferred one involves the use of two vials containing solution mixtures for the extraction of ROS (vial 1) and MH (vial 2), respectively, but using the same fiber and acceptor phase. Important parameters that affect the extraction efficiency such as extracting solvent, donor phase conditions, HCl concentration, agitation, extraction time, addition of salt, etc. were studied. Under the optimum conditions, good enrichment factors (EF, 471 and 86.6 for ROS and MH, respectively) were achieved. Calibration curves were linear over the range 1-500 (r(2)=0.998) and 5-2500 ng mL(-1) (r(2)=0.999) for ROS and MH, respectively. The relative standard deviation values (RSD%) for six replicates were below 8.4%. Detection and quantitation limits based on S/N ratio of 3 and 10 were 0.12, 1.0 and 0.36, 3.0 ng mL(-1) for ROS and MH, respectively. The proposed method is simple, sensitive and opens up new opportunities for the microextraction of analytes with contrasting properties.
A sensitive and rapid reversed-phase ultra performance liquid chromatographic (UPLC) method for the simultaneous determination of tocopherols (α-, β-, γ-, δ-), tocotrienols (α-, β-, γ-, δ-), α-tocopherol acetate and α-tocopherol nicotinate is described. The separation was achieved using a Kinetex pentafluorophenyl (PFP) column (150 × 2.1mm, 2.6 µm) with both photodiode array (PDA) and fluorescence (FL) detectors that were connected in series. Column was thermostated at 42°C. Under a gradient system consisting of methanol and water at a constant flow rate of 0.38 mL min(-1), all the ten analytes were well separated in less than 9.5 min. The method was validated in terms of linearity, limits of detection and quantitation, precision and recoveries. Calibration curves of the ten compounds were well correlated (r(2)>0.999) within the range of 100 to 25,000 μg L(-1) for α-tocopherol acetate and α-tocopherol nicotinate, 10 to 25,000 μg L(-1) for α-tocotrienol and 5 to 25,000 μg L(-1) for the other components. The method is simple and sensitive with detection limits (S/N, 3) of 1.0 to 3.0 μg L(-1) (FL detection) and 30 to 74 μg L(-1) (PDA detection). Relative standard deviations for intra- and inter-day retention times (<1%) and peak areas (≤ 4%) were obtained. The method was successfully applied to the determination of vitamin E in vegetable oils (extra virgin olive, virgin olive, pomace olive, blended virgin and refined olive, sunflower, soybean, palm olein, carotino, crude palm, walnut, rice bran and grape seed), margarines and supplements.
A simple micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) method for the simultaneous determination of 2-furfural (2-F), 3-furfural (3-F), 5-methylfurfural (5-MF), 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), 2-furoic acid (2-FA) and 3-furoic acid (3-FA) in honey and vegetable oils is described. Parameters affecting the separation such as pH, buffer and surfactant concentrations, applied voltage, capillary temperature, injection time and capillary length were studied and optimized. The separation was carried out in normal polarity mode at 20 °C, 22 kV and using hydrodynamic injection (17 s). The separation was achieved in a bare fused-silica capillary (46 cm × 50 μm i.d.) with a background electrolyte of 75 mM phosphoric acid (pH 7.3), containing 200 mM of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS). The detection wavelengths were at 200 nm (2-FA and 3-FA) and 280 nm (2-F, 3-F, 5-MF, 5-HMF). The furfurals were well separated in less than 20 min. The method was validated in terms of linearity, limit of detection and quantitation, precision and recoveries. Calibration curves of the six furfurals were well correlated (r(2)>0.991) within the range 1-25 μg mL(-1). Relative standard deviations of intra- and inter-day migration times and corrected peak areas ≤9.96% were achieved. The limit of detection (signal:noise, 3) was 0.33-0.70 μg mL(-1) whereas the limit of quantitation (signal:noise, 10) was 1.00-2.12 μg mL(-1). The method was applied to the determination of furanic compounds in honeys and vegetable oils (palm, walnut, grape seed and rapeseed). The effects of thermal treatment and gamma irradiation on the formation of the furanic compounds in honey were also investigated.
A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detector (C(4)D) has been developed for the separation and the simultaneous determination of five underivatized long chain fatty acids (FAs), namely myristic, palmitic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic acids. An isocratic elution mode using methanol/1mM sodium acetate (78:22, v/v) as mobile phase with a flow rate of 0.6 mL min(-1) was used. The separation was effected by using a Hypersil ODS C(18) analytical column (250 mm x 4.6 mm x 5 microm) and was operated at 45 degrees C. Calibration curves of the five FAs were well correlated (r(2)>0.999) within the range of 5- 200 microg mL(-1) for stearic acid, and 2-200 microg mL(-1) for the other FAs. The proposed method was tested on four vegetable oils, i.e., pumpkin, soybean, rice bran and palm olein oils; good agreement was found with the standard gas chromatographic (GC) method. The proposed method offers distinct advantages over the official GC method, especially in terms of simplicity, faster separation times and sensitivity.
A new sample preparation method, ion-pair vortex assisted liquid-liquid microextraction (VALLME-BE), for the determination of a highly polar anti-diabetic drug (metformin) in plasma sample was developed. The VALLME-BE was performed by diluting the plasma in borate buffer and extracted to 150µL 1-octanol containing 0.2M di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid as intermediate phase. The drug was next back-extracted into 20µL of 0.075M HCl solution. The effects of pH, ion-pair concentration, type of organic solvent, volume of extraction phases, ionic strength, vortexing and centrifugation times on the extraction efficiency were investigated. The optimum conditions were at pH 9.3, 60s vortexing and 2min centrifugation. The microextract, contained metformin and buformin (internal standard), was directly injected into a HPLC unit using C1 column (250mm×4.6mm×10µm) and detected at 235nm. The method was validated and calibration curve was linear with r2>0.99 over the range of 20-2000µgL-1. The limits of detection and quantitation were 1.4 and 4.1µgL-1, respectively. The accuracy was within 94.8-108% of the nominal concentration. The relative standard deviation for inter- and intra-day precision was less than 10.8%. The method was conveniently applied for the determination of metformin in plasma samples.