Simultaneous Determination of Water‐Soluble Vitamins in Human Urine by Fluorescence in a Flow‐Injection Analysis

Development and Analytical Validation of the Methodology for Vitamins in Tablets by Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography

In the present study, we developed a reliable and robust chromatographic method for the quantification of multivitamins in tablet samples by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) with photodiode array detection. The vitamins nicotinamide, pyridoxine, riboflavin, and thiamin were analyzed and quantified in a total analysis time of 2.5 minutes, using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography stationary phase. Tocopherol acetate and cyanocobalamin were analyzed and quantified in a total analysis time of 2.5 minutes, using reversed-phase (RP)-UPLC. The analysis time reported here is lower than that of similar methods reported in the literature for single vitamin determination. The method linearity exhibits a good correlation coefficient (R2 = 0.998) with the relative residual standard deviation in the acceptable limit of 2.0%. The developed methods were validated, and the results demonstrated that the proposed analytical method showed to be selective, sensitive, accurate, and robust for the quantification of evaluated vitamins in multivitamin tablets. The work was fully developed in the quality control laboratory of a pharmaceutical industry in the Agroindustrial District of Anápolis (DAIA, Goiás, Brazil), where the product is manufactured.

On-line solid-phase enrichment coupled to packed reactor flow injection analysis in a green analytical procedure to determine low levels of folic acid using fluorescence detection

Background

Analysis of folic acid (FA) is not an easy task because of its presence in lower concentrations, its lower stability under acidic conditions, and its sensitiveness against light and high temperature. The present study is concerned with the development and validation of an automated environmentally friendly pre-column derivatization combined by solid-phase enrichment (SPEn) to determine low levels of FA.

Results

Cerium (IV) trihydroxyhydroperoxide (CTH) as a packed oxidant reactor has been used for oxidative cleavage of FA into highly fluorescent product, 2-amino-4-hydroxypteridine-6-carboxylic acid. FA was injected into a carrier stream of 0.04 M phosphate buffer, pH 3.4 at a flow-rate of 0.25 mL/min. The sample zone containing the analyte was passed through the CTH reactor thermostated at 40°C, and the fluorescent product was trapped and enriched on a head of small ODS column (10 mm x 4.6 mm i.d., 5 μm particle size). The enriched product was then back-flush eluted by column-switching from the small ODS column to the detector with a greener mobile phase consisting of ethanol and phosphate buffer (0.04M, pH 3.4) in the ratio of 5:95 (v/v). The eluent was monitored fluorimetrically at emission and excitation wavelengths of 463 and 367 nm, respectively. The calibration graph was linear over concentrations of FA in the range of 1.25-50 ng/mL, with a detection limit of 0.49 ng/mL.

Conclusion

A new simple and sensitive green analytical procedure including on-line pre-column derivatization combined by SPEn has been developed for the routine quality control and dosage form assay of FA at very low concentration level. The method was a powerful analytical technique that had excellent sensitivity, sufficient accuracy and required relatively simple and inexpensive instrumentation.

A VOLTAMMETRIC FLAVIN MICROELECTRODE FOR USE IN BIOFILMS

Biofilms used in bioelectrochemical systems are expected to transfer electrons using electron transfer mediators. One mediator type, flavins, which includes flavin mononucleotide, riboflavin, and flavin adenine dinucleotide, has been found to be endogenously produced by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1. However, the presence and concentration of flavins inside a S. oneidensis MR-1 biofilm have never been reported. The goal of this study was to develop a flavin microelectrode capable of measuring flavins inside a living biofilm and apply it to a biofilm which produces flavins. Because flavins are electrochemically active molecules, the flavin microelectrode was based on detection via square-wave voltammetry. The microelectrode consisted of a carbon working electrode with a 10-30 μm tip diameter, a built-in platinum counter electrode, and a Ag/AgCl reference electrode, all enclosed in a glass outer case. The microelectrode was calibrated between 0.1 μM and 10 μM flavins and showed a linear correlation between flavin concentration and peak currents located at -424 mV(Ag/AgCl) on a square-wave voltammogram. We also developed a model to explain the electrochemical mechanism of flavin detection, and to determine the effective surface area of the microelectrode, the standard reduction potential, and the transfer coefficient. We found that the effective surface area of the microelectrode was close to 100 times the projected surface area. The model predicted a standard reduction potential for RF/RFH2 of -419 mV(Ag/AgCl) at 20 °C and a transfer coefficient of 0.45. Lastly, we measured flavin concentration inside a S. oneidensis MR-1 biofilm grown on a glass surface using oxygen as the electron acceptor. The flavin concentration reached 0.7 μM, increasing near the bottom of the biofilm, where no oxygen was present. This shows the possibility that flavins are produced in the anaerobic zone to act as intermediate electron acceptors in the deeper parts of the biofilm, where there is no oxygen.