A Rapid Dialysis Method for Analysis of Artificial Sweeteners in Foods (2nd Report).

Following the previous report, a rapid dialysis method was developed for the extraction and purification of four artificial sweeteners, namely, sodium saccharide (Sa), acesulfame potassium (AK), aspartame (APM), and dulcin (Du), which are present in various foods. The method was evaluated by the addition of 0.02 g/kg of these sweeteners to a cookie sample, in the same manner as in the previous report. Revisions from the previous method were: reduction of the total dialysis volume from 200 to 100 mL, change of tube length from 55 to 50 cm, change of dialysate from 0.01 mol/L hydrochloric aqueous solution containing 10% sodium chloride to 30% methanol solution, and change of dialysis conditions from ambient temperature with occasional shaking to 50℃ with shaking at 160 rpm. As a result of these revisions, the recovery reached 99.3-103.8% with one hour dialysis. The obtained recovery yields were comparable to the recovery yields in the previous method with four hour dialysis.

Removal of artificial sweetener aspartame from aqueous media by electrochemical advanced oxidation processes.

The degradation and mineralization of aspartame (ASP) in aqueous solution were investigated, for the first time, by electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs) in which hydroxyl radicals were formed concomitantly in the bulk from Fenton reaction via in situ electrogenerated Fenton's reagent and at the anode surface from the water oxidation. Experiments were performed in an undivided cylindrical glass cell with a carbon-felt cathode and a Pt or boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode. The effect of Fe2+ concentration and applied current on the degradation and mineralization kinetics of ASP was evaluated. The absolute rate constant for the reaction between ASP and OH was determined as (5.23 ± 0.02) × 109 M-1 s-1 by using the competition kinetic method. Almost complete mineralization of ASP was achieved with BDD anode at 200 mA constant current electrolysis. The formation and generation of the formed carboxylic acids (as ultimate end products before complete mineralization) and released inorganic ion were monitored by ion-exclusion high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ion chromatography techniques, respectively. The global toxicity of the treated ASP solution during treatment was assessed by the Microtox® method using V. fischeri bacteria luminescence inhibition.

Development of an HPLC Method with an ODS Column to Determine Low Levels of Aspartame Diastereomers in Aspartame.

α-L-Aspartyl-D-phenylalanine methyl ester (L, D-APM) and α-D-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester (D, L-APM) are diastereomers of aspartame (N-L-α-Aspartyl-L-phenylalanine-1-methyl ester, L, L-APM). The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives has set 0.04 wt% as the maximum permitted level of the sum of L, D-APM and D, L-APM in commercially available L, L-APM. In this study, we developed and validated a simple high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method using an ODS column to determine L, D-APM and D, L-APM in L, L-APM. The limits of detection and quantification, respectively, of L, D-APM and D, L-APM were found to be 0.0012 wt% and 0.004 wt%. This method gave excellent accuracy, repeatability, and reproducibility in a recovery test performed on five different days. Moreover, the method was successfully applied to the determination of these diastereomers in commercial L, L-APM samples. Thus, the developed method is a simple, useful, and practical tool for determining L, D-APM and D, L-APM levels in L, L-APM.

[A rapid dialysis method for analysis of artificial sweeteners in food].

A simple and rapid dialysis method was developed for the extraction and purification of four artificial sweeteners, namely, sodium saccharin (Sa), acesulfame potassium (AK), aspartame (APM), and dulcin (Du), which are present in various foods. Conventional dialysis uses a membrane dialysis tube approximately 15 cm in length and is carried out over many hours owing to the small membrane area and owing to inefficient mixing. In particular, processed cereal products such as cookies required treatment for 48 hours to obtain satisfactory recovery of the compounds. By increasing the tube length to 55 cm and introducing efficient mixing by inversion at half-hour intervals, the dialysis times of the four artificial sweeteners, spiked at 0.1 g/kg in the cookie, were shortened to 4 hours. Recovery yields of 88.9-103.2% were obtained by using the improved method, whereas recovery yields were low (65.5-82.0%) by the conventional method. Recovery yields (%) of Sa, AK, APM, and Du, spiked at 0.1 g/kg in various foods, were 91.6-100.1, 93.9-100.1, 86.7-100.0 and 88.7-104.7 using the improved method.

Bienzymatic biosensor for rapid detection of aspartame by flow injection analysis.

A rapid, simple and stable biosensor for aspartame detection was developed. Alcohol oxidase (AOX), carboxyl esterase (CaE) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were immobilised with glutaraldehyde (GA) onto screen-printed electrodes modified with cobalt-phthalocyanine (CoPC). The biosensor response was fast. The sample throughput using a flow injection analysis (FIA) system was 40 h⁻¹ with an RSD of 2.7%. The detection limits for both batch and FIA measurements were 0.1 µM for methanol and 0.2 µM for aspartame, respectively. The enzymatic biosensor was successfully applied for aspartame determination in different sample matrices/commercial products (liquid and solid samples) without any pre-treatment step prior to measurement.

Water-compatible 'aspartame'-imprinted polymer grafted on silica surface for selective recognition in aqueous solution.

Molecularly imprinted polymers selective for aspartame have been prepared using N-[2-ammonium-ethyl-piperazinium) maleimidopropane sulfonate copolymer bearing zwitterionic centres along the backbone via a surface-confined grafting procedure. Aspartame, a dipeptide, is commonly used as an artificial sweetener. Polymerisation on the surface was propagated by means of Michael addition reaction on amino-grafted silica surface. Electrostatic interactions along with complementary H-bonding and other hydrophobic interactions inducing additional synergetic effect between the template (aspartame) and the imprinted surface led to the formation of imprinted sites. The MIP was able to selectively and specifically take up aspartame from aqueous solution and certain pharmaceutical samples quantitatively. Hence, a facile, specific and selective technique using surface-grafted specific molecular contours developed for specific and selective uptake of aspartame in the presence of various interferrants, in different kinds of matrices is presented.

Separation and simultaneous determination of four artificial sweeteners in food and beverages by ion chromatography.

In this paper, the separation and determination of four artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sodium cyclamate, acesulfame-K and sodium saccharin) by ion chromatography coupled with suppressed conductivity detector is reported. The four artificial sweeteners were separated using KOH eluent generator. Due to the use of eluent generator, very low conductance background conductivity can be obtained and sensitivity of sweeteners has been greatly improved. Under the experimental condition, several inorganic anions, such as F-, Cl-, NO3-, NO2-, Br-, SO4(2)-, PO4(3)- and some organic acid such as formate, acetate, benzoate, and citrate did not interfere with the determination. With this method, good linear relationship, sensitivity and reproducibility were obtained. Detection limits of aspartame, sodium cyclamate, acesulfame-K, sodium saccharin were 0.87, 0.032, 0.019, 0.045 mg/L, respectively. Rate of recovery were between 98.23 and 105.42%, 99.48 and 103.57%, 97.96 and 103.23%, 98.46 and 102.40%, respectively. The method has successfully applied to the determination of the four sweeteners in drinks and preserved fruits.

The use of modified divinylbenzene-polystyrene resins in the separation of fermentation products. A case study utilizing amino acids and a dipeptide.

The adsorption of phenylalanine, aspartic acid, asparagine and aspartame from phosphate-buffered aqueous solutions with modified divinyl-benzene-polystyrene resins has been investigated using high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). The pH studied was 2.8, the temperature range was 293-313 K and the ionic strength was maintained at 1.0 mol dm-3. Over the range of variables investigated, the adsorption isotherms are linear and may be characterized by temperature and pH-dependent apparent adsorption equilibrium constants, characteristic of the resin-adsorbate system. By studying the dependence on temperature of this adsorption constant, heats of adsorption and entropy of adsorption have been estimated. In terms of the heat liberated on adsorption, the amino acids and a dipeptide can be ranked thus: aspartame > phenylalanine > aspartic acid > asparagine.

The stereochemical resolution of the enantiomers of aspartame on an immobilized alpha-chymotrypsin HPLC chiral stationary phase: the effect of mobile-phase composition and enzyme activity.

The enantioselective and diastereoselective resolutions of the stereoisomers of N alpha-aspartyl-phenylalanine 1-methyl ester (APME) have been accomplished on an HPLC chiral stationary phase based upon alpha-chymotrypsin (the ACHT-CSP) with observed enantioselectivities (alpha 1) for the DL-/LD-enantiomer of as high as 29.17 and for the DD-/LL-enantiomers of as high as 28.97. In addition, the effect on the chromatographic retention of the APME stereoisomers of the activity of the ACHT and the composition of the mobile phase--structure of the anionic component, molarity, and pH--have been studied. The results of this study suggest that the aspartyl moiety and/or the aspartyl-phenylalanine amide linkage play key roles in the observed enantioselectivity; the APME stereoisomers containing L-phenylalanine, i.e., DL- and LL-APME, bind at a different site in the ACHT molecule (the L-Phe site) than the APME stereoisomers containing D-phenylalanine (the D-Phe site); and the observed enantioselectivity is a measure of the difference in the binding affinities at the two sites rather than the consequence of differential affinities at a single site.