Flotation/ultrasound-assisted microextraction followed by HPLC for determination of fat-soluble vitamins in multivitamin pharmaceutical preparations

Dissolved carbon dioxide flotation-emulsification microextraction technique coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography was developed for separation and determination of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D₃ , E, and K₃ ) in multivitamin pharmaceutical preparations. Dissolved carbon dioxide flotation was used to break up the emulsion of extraction solvent in water and to collect the extraction solvent on the surface of aqueous sample in narrowed capillary part of extraction cell. Carbon dioxide bubbles were generated in situ through the addition of 300 μL of concentrated hydrochloric acid into the alkaline sample solution at pH = 11.5 (1% w/v sodium carbonate), which was sonicated to intensify the carbon dioxide bubble generation. Several factors affecting the extraction process were optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the limits of detection were 0.11, 0.47, 0.20 and 0.35 μg/L for A, E, D₃ , and K₃ vitamins in water samples, respectively. The inter-day and intra-day precision of the proposed method were evaluated in terms of the relative standard deviation and were <10.5%.