Magnetic solid-phase extraction and a portable photocolourimeter using a multi-colour light emitting diode for on-site determination of nitrite

Fast Determination of Eleven Food Additives in River Water Using C18 Functionalized Magnetic Organic Polymer Nanocomposite Followed by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

A novel magnetic nanomaterial with Fe3O4 as the core, PS-DVB as the shell layer, and the surface modified with C18 (C18-PS-DVB-Fe3O4) had been synthesized by seeded emulsion polymerization. C18-PS-DVB-Fe3O4 retains the advantages of the chemical stability, large porosity, and uniform morphology of organic polymers and has the magnetic properties of Fe3O4. A simple, flexible, and efficient magnetic dispersive solid phase extraction (Mag-dSPE) method for the extraction of preservatives, sweeteners, and colorants in river water was established. C18-PS-DVB-Fe3O4 was used as an adsorbent for Mag-dSPE and was coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to detect 11 food additives: acesulfame, amaranth, benzoic acid, tartrazine, saccharin sodium, sorbic acid, dehydroacetic acid, sunset yellow, allura red, brilliant blue, and erythrosine. Under the optimum extraction conditions, combined with ChromCoreTMAQC18 (5 μm, 4.6 × 250 mm), 20 mmol/L ammonium acetate aqueous solution and methanol were used as mobile phases, and the detection wavelengths were 240 nm and 410 nm. The limits of detection (LODs) of 11 food additives were 0.6-3.1 μg/L with satisfactory recoveries ranging from 86.53% to 106.32%. And the material could be reused for five cycles without much sacrifice of extraction efficiency. The proposed method has been used to determine food additives in river water samples, and results demonstrate the applicability of the proposed C18-PS-DVB-Fe3O4 Mag-dSPE coupled with the HPLC method to environment monitoring analysis.

Portuino-A Novel Portable Low-Cost Arduino-Based Photo- and Fluorimeter

A novel portable low-cost Arduino-controlled photo- and fluorimeter for on-site measurements has been developed. The device uses LEDs as a light source and a phototransistor as a light sensor. The circuit is based on the discharge of a capacitor with the photocurrent from the phototransistor. Validation experiments for absorbance measurements were performed by measuring protein concentration using the Bradford method and measuring phosphate ions in water using a commercial test kit. The emission light of the excited fluorescent dyes rhodamine 6G and calcofluor white was measured to validate the usability of the device as a fluorescence photometer. In all validation experiments, similar correlation coefficients and limit of detection could be achieved with the portable photo- and fluorimeter and a laboratory spectrometer and fluorimeter. Real sample analysis was performed, measuring phosphate concentration in freshwater and concentration of green fluorescent protein, extracted from Escherichia coli.

A green and efficient vortex-assisted liquid-phase microextraction based on supramolecular solvent for UV-VIS determination of nitrite in processed meat and chicken products

This paper describes a simple, efficient and rapid analytical method for extraction and determination of nitrite in meat and chicken products by vortex-assisted supramolecular solvent-based liquid phase microextraction (VA-SUPRAS-LPME) prior to spectrophotometric detection. The SUPRAS was rapidly formed by the addition of a colloidal decanoic acid suspension to tetrahydrofuran (THF). The validation studies were carried out in terms of linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantitation (LOQ), matrix effects, robustness, uncertainty measurement, precision, accuracy, and certified reference material (CRM) analysis using optimized experimental conditions. The LOD, LOQ, linearity and matrix effect were 0.035 ng mL^-1, 0.1 ng mL^-1, 0.1-300 ng mL^-1, and 9.6% respectively, with high preconcentration factor (200). The method was successfully applied for the determination of nitrite in processed products. Moreover, the results obtained by the proposed method were compared to the standard Griess method, and showed no significant differences in term of Student's t-test.

Development of magnetic porous carbon nano-fibers for application as adsorbents in the enrichment of trace Sudan dyes in foodstuffs

A novel kind of magnetic porous carbon nano-fibers (Fe₃O₄@P-CNFs) materials was successfully prepared and used as an adsorbent. Based on the above-mentioned adsorbent, a simple and effective magnetic disperse solid-phase extraction (MSPE) method was developed and first utilized to the enrichment and purification of five Sudan dyes (including Sudan I, Sudan II, Sudan III, Sudan IV, and Sudan Red 7B) in foodstuffs for the first time. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to determine the content of the Sudan dyes. The parameters affecting the extraction performance were studied and optimized, including the amount of the adsorbent and inorganic salt, type and the volume of the eluent, pH of the sample solution and extraction time. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the results show that the proposed method has a good linear relationship (r≥ 0.9993). The limits of detection range from 0.88 μg L^-1 to 1.27 μg L^-1. The recoveries range from 86.6% to 99.7% with the relative standard deviations ranging from 0.6% to 7.9% in the methodology validation. The above-mentioned results indicate that the proposed method is a sensitive and reliable procedure with good reproducibility for the detection of Sudan dyes residues in foodstuffs.