Determination of active vitamin B12 (cobalamin) in dietary supplements and ingredients by reversed-phase liquid chromatography: Single-laboratory validation.

Vitamin B12 dietary supplement can be critical to the alleviation strategies against micronutrient malnutrition and food insecurity. An HPLC-DAD method has been developed and validated, per AOAC SMPR 2016.017 (Standard Method Performance Requirements), for the quantitation of four bioactive forms of vitamin B12 (adenosylcobalamin, cyanocobalamin, hydroxocobalamin, methylcobalamin) from dietary ingredients and supplements. The method achieves chromatographic baseline resolution of vitamin B12 forms on a modern column platform without the expensive requirement of an ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography and/or mass spectrometry. The method has a wide analytical range (0.0005%w/w-85%w/w), high precision (reproducibility relative standard deviations ranged from 1.43% to 4.67%), and high accuracy (>96% spike recovery rate for 11 out of 12 accuracy testing data points). The method detection and quantification limits are less than 0.16 and 0.52 µg/mL, respectively. To our best knowledge, it is simpler, less time-consuming, and more economical than other published methods for its intended uses.

Analysis of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in olive oil after solid-phase extraction using a dual-layer sorbent cartridge followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

A simple and easy direct solid-phase extraction (SPE) method was developed for the analysis of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in olive oil using a dual-layer cartridge containing activated Florisil and a mixture of octadecyl (C18)-bonded and zirconia-coated silicas. Undiluted olive oil was applied directly to the SPE cartridge, and the sample was eluted with acetonitrile solvent. Background in the extract was found to be low enough for either gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) or high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) analysis. Average recoveries for 16 different PAHs from spiked olive oil replicates were >75%, with intraday precisions of <20% relative standard deviation (% RSD). Detection limits ranged from 0.2 to 1.0 µg/kg and, specifically for the PAHs listed in EC Regulation 835/2011, benzo(a)anthracene, chrysene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, and benzo(a)pyrene, were from 0.3 to 0.7 µg/kg. The method was then applied to determine the PAH content present in commercial samples of refined versus extra-virgin olive oils.

In vitro evaluation of new biocompatible coatings for solid-phase microextraction: implications for drug analysis and in vivo sampling applications.

A new line of solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coatings suitable for use with liquid chromatography applications was recently developed to address the limitations of the currently available coatings. The proposed coatings were immobilized on the metal fiber core and consisted of a mixture of proprietary biocompatible binder and various types of coated silica (octadecyl, polar embedded and cyano) particles. The aim of this research was to perform in vitro assessment of these new SPME fibers in order to evaluate their suitability for drug analysis and in vivo SPME applications. The main parameters examined were extraction efficiency, solvent resistance, preconditioning, dependence of extraction kinetics on coating thickness, carryover, linear range and inter-fiber reproducibility. The performance of the proposed coatings was compared against commercial Carbowax-TPR (CW-TPR) coating, when applicable. The fibers were evaluated for the extraction of drugs of different classes (carbamazepine, propranolol, pseudoephedrine, ranitidine and diazepam) from plasma and urine. The analyses were performed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The results show that the fibers perform very well for the extraction of biological fluids with no sample pre-treatment required and can also be used for in vivo sampling applications of flowing blood. A coating thickness of 45 microm was found to be a good compromise between extraction capacity and extraction kinetics. Due to the high extraction efficiency of these coatings, pre-equilibrium SPME with very short extraction times (2 min) can be employed to increase sample throughput. Inter-fiber reproducibility was < or = 11% R.S.D. (n=10) for model drugs examined in plasma, which is a significant improvement over polypyrrole coatings reported in literature, and permits single fiber use for in vivo applications.

Evaluation of a solid-phase extraction dual-layer carbon/primary secondary amine for clean-up of fatty acid matrix components from food extracts in multiresidue pesticide analysis.

The use of dual-layer solid-phase extraction (SPE), a primary-secondary amine (PSA) in combination with graphitized carbon black (GCB), was evaluated for sample clean-up during multiresidue pesticide screening of agricultural and food products. The retention of fatty acids by the PSA sorbent was quantified and the effect of the elution solvent on the retention of fatty acid on the SPE cartridge was evaluated. The use of stronger elution solvents to elute certain pesticides from graphitized carbon was shown to interfere with the capacity of PSA to bind fatty acids. A suitable protocol was tested using GCB/PSA dual-layer SPE to clean-up several food matrices and to simultaneously screen multiple fortified pesticides with a wide range of physico-chemical properties. With a few exceptions, pesticide recoveries were between 85% and 110%, and sample-to-sample differences of less than 5% were achieved, demonstrating the versatile suitability of the dual-layer SPE to sample clean-up.