Comparison of methods for rapid analysis of quercetin.

Quercetin is a polyphenol of growing interest that is present in many foods. In this study, we compared two methods for its determination in samples of drinks made of juice and in dietary supplements, one chromatographic (HPLC) and other spectrofluorimetric (constant-wavelength synchronous spectrofluorimetry). To confirm the identification of the quercetin in the samples an HPLC-PDA-MS/MS system was used. It was concluded that both methods are suitable for dietary supplements and the choice of one or the other depends on the type of sample, time available for the analysis as well as the available resources. For juice beverages only HPLC is suitable.

Influence of culinary processing time on saffron's bioactive compounds (Crocus sativus L.).

Saffron, the dried stigmas of Crocus sativus L., is used as a condiment spice. The major bioactive compounds are crocins, picrocrocin and safranal, which are responsible for the sensory profile of saffron (color, flavor and aroma, respectively), and also health-promoting properties. In this paper, the effect on the bioactive compounds of different cooking times in boiling water at 100 °C in samples of Saffron from La Mancha (safranal, picrocrocin, trans-crocin 4, cis-crocin 4 and trans-crocin 3) was investigated. Performance characteristics of High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Variable Wavelength Detector method, parameters of linearity, limits of detection and quantification are reported. High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Photo Diode Array-Mass Spectrometry was used as a confirmatory technique in crocins identification. When the samples are subjected to different cooking times, they present different behaviors, depending on the bioactive compound. In this way, no changes were observed in the concentration of picrocrocin, while heat culinary treatment adversely affects the concentrations of crocins and safranal.

Determination of vitamin E and carotenoid pigments by high performance liquid chromatography in shell of Chionoecetes opilio.

This study reports the optimization of a method for the determination of vitamin E and carotenoids in shells of Chionoecetes opilio samples by online HPLC coupled with UV-vis and fluorescence detectors. The carotenoids were determined with diode-array detector (lambda 450 nm) and vitamin E with fluorescence detection (lambda(ex) 288, lambda(em) 331 nm). Two extractions methods were compared, saponification followed by an extraction step and a simple extraction with acetone. The last one was selected because allows to determine all compounds. Linearity, precisions and recoveries achieved for all compounds were satisfactory. Mean concentrations (mg per 100 g dry weight) were; 23.3 for vitamin E, 9.49 for astaxanthin and 0.2 mg for beta-carotene.

Resolution of 13 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by constant-wavelength synchronous spectrofluorometry.

A method capable of determining 13 PAHs (acenaphthene, anthracene, benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, chrysene, dibenzo[ah]anthracene, fluoranthene, fluorene, indene[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, phenanthrene and pyrene) in a mixture of 16 EPA PAHs by second derivative synchronous spectrofluorometry in the constant wavelength mode was developed. It has not been possible to determine the following PAHs in the mixture: acenaphthylene, benzo[ghi]perylene and naphthalene. The approach studied allows the sensitive, rapid and inexpensive identification and quantitation of 13 PAHs in a solution of hexane. The detection limits are <1 microg L(-1) (except for chrysene and phenanthrene).