A stability-indicating HPLC assay of ten different vitamins in a food supplement: Appraisal of the method's greenness, whiteness, and blueness

Due to their susceptibility to degradation, vitamin levels in food formulations may differ from those found in the finished product. Vitamin levels can be impacted by processing and storage. In this work, the ingredients of Strong B50 ® film-coated tablets were estimated simultaneously using simple efficient stability indicating HPLC method. Strong B50 ® film-coated tablets contain thiamine (VB1), riboflavin (VB2), calcium pantothenate (VB5), pyridoxine (VB6), vitamin C (VC), folic acid (FA), biotin (BT), inositol (IS), niacin (NC), para-aminobenzoic acid (PB), cyanocobalamine (B12), choline bitartarate, and iron gluconate. Hypersil BDS C18 column was used for achieving reasonable separation. Mobile phases (A) and (B) were utilized, the mobile phase (A) consisted of 0.015 M Hexane sulfonic acid sodium salt + 0.1 % Triethylamine and orthophosphoric acid was used to adjust the pH to (2.9) while (B) system consisted of acetonitrile. Validation of the method was assessed using International Conference of Harmonization (ICH) parameters, where linearity, accuracy, selectivity, and robustness of the method were investigated. Correlations were above 0.99, accuracy results ranged from 97.6 to 102.8 % and limits for detection and quantitation (LOD and LOQ) values were determined for each vitamin in μg/mL except for FA and BT in ng/mL. LOD values were between 0.006 and 15.08 μg/mL while LOQ values ranged from 0.031 to 49.77 μg/mL. Stability studies were conducted under stressed conditions and degradation percentages were computed. Where, VB5, VB6, FA and PB, VC, and NC were the most degradable vitamins. Whiteness evaluation using the modern RGB 12 algorithm compared our method and the old reported one by Sasaki et al., 2020. The comparison favored our newly developed method in terms of analytical performance, practical applicability and greenness. Besides, AGREE and GAPI soft wares were used to assess the greenness of the method. It was clear that the results of colored pictograms confirm low hazardous impact and that the new method is greener with AGREE score of 0.66. Furthermore, the functionality and applicability of the novel HPLC approach were concluded via the Blue Applicability Grade Index (BAGI) tool with a final score of 82.5.

Simultaneous Determination of B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, and B12 Vitamins in Premix and Fortified Flour Using HPLC/DAD: Effect of Detection Wavelength

Simultaneous determination of water-soluble B vitamins is a troublesome analytical procedure since they have greatly variable structures and acid-base properties which imposed difficulties on eluting them in short time and selecting wavelength of detection. The aim of the present study was to develop a simple method that overcomes these difficulties. The method was successful in simultaneous determination of B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, and B12 in premix and fortified flour by extracting vitamins with 0.1% (w/v) of ascorbate and ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) solution followed by eluting using gradient mobile phase consisting of 0.03% trifluoroacetic acid aqueous solution (pH 2.6) and acetonitrile on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) instrument coupled with diode array detector (DAD). Elution of vitamins was completed within 9.3 min, and the lowest values obtained for limit of quantification (LOQ) for B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, and B12 were 0.6, 0.2, 0.8, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7 μg/mL, respectively, at four wavelengths of 361, 280, 265, and 210 nm. In general, variation of wavelength of detection in the range from 210 to 361 nm affects sensitivity but had a marginal effect on the linearity and LOQ of the developed method and its application for determining B vitamins in premix and fortified flour. The 210 nm wavelength exhibited the highest sensitivity though resulted in higher values of B vitamins in fortified flour with respect to 265, 280, and 361 nm. Noteworthy, determination of B2 and B12 in the premix at 361 nm had relatively high RSD values compared to the lower wavelengths. Thus, wavelengths in the range from 265 to 280 may be more favorable over 210 and 361 nm. The method reported in the present work does not require any sample cleanup/preconcentration steps, and chromatographic elution was achieved in 9.3 min without the need for ion-pairing reagents.

Determination of selected water-soluble vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, nicotinamide and pyridoxine) from a food matrix using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy

Water-soluble vitamins are essential dietary components with a multitude of important functions that require quantification from food sources to characterise the nutritional status of food. In this study, we have developed a hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) based method coupled to single-quadrupole mass spectrometry (MS) for the analysis of selected water-soluble vitamins. Due to their involvement in energy release from macronutrients, the quantification of thiamine (B₁), riboflavin (B₂), nicotinamide (B₃) and pyridoxine (B₆) offers significant value in food analysis. A commercially available vegetable soup was selected as the food matrix for this study and utilised to develop an efficient extraction procedure for the vitamins of interest. Vitamins were extracted using meta-phosphoric acid coupled with a reducing agent, DL-dithiothreitol (DTT) to produce the parent compound. The extracted vitamins were then analysed using an LC-MS system with electrospray - atmospheric pressure ionization (ES-API) source, operated in positive single ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The MS provided good linearity within the investigated range from 5 to 400 ng/mL with coefficient of determination (r²) ranging from 0.98 to 0.99. Retention times (0.65-9.04 min) were reproducible and no coelution between vitamins was observed. Limit of detection (LOD) varied from 2.4 to 9.0 ng/mL and limit of quantification (LOQ) was from 8 to 30 ng/mL, comparable to previously published studies. The extraction method provided good intra-day (%CV 1.56-6.56) and inter-day precision (%CV 8.07-10.97). Standard injections were used as part of quality control measures and provided excellent reproducibility (%CV 0.9-3.4). The overall runtime of this method was 19 min, including column reconditioning. Using this method, the quantity of thiamine (67 ± 7 ng/g), riboflavin (423 ± 39 ng/g), nicotinamide (856 ± 77 ng/g) and pyridoxine (133 ± 11 ng/g) was determined from a complex food matrix. In conclusion, we have developed a rapid and reliable, HILIC-single quad MS method utilising SIM for the low-level quantification of four B vitamins in a vegetable soup matrix in under 20 min. This method has shown excellent linearity, intra- and inter-day reproducibility and is directly applicable to other plant-based food matrices.

Development of Simple Analytical Method for B-Group Vitamins in Nutritional Products: Enzymatic Digestion and UPLC-MS/MS Quantification

A method for the simultaneous determination of seven B-group vitamers including thiamine, riboflavin, nicotinamide, niacin, pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine in nutritional products by using enzymatic digestion followed by LC-MS/MS quantification was studied. The LC-MS/MS conditions such as MS transitions, mobile phase programs, and ammonium formate buffer concentrations, and sample treatment procedures (e.g., concentrations of buffer solution, digestion temperature, and digestion time) were investigated. The analytical method performance was evaluated by multiple criteria such as selectivity, linearity, detection and quantification limits, repeatability, reproducibility, and recovery by using real sample matrices. The validated method was successfully applied to analyze vitamin B concentrations in different nutritional products like ultra-heat-treated milk, powdered milk, and nutritional powder. Vitamin B concentrations varied over a wide range from lower than detection limits to about 9000 µg/100 g, depending on vitamin groups, compound forms, and sample types. The measured concentrations of B-group vitamins in our samples were generally in good agreement with values of label claims.

Effects of roasting conditions on physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities in Ginkgo biloba seeds

The roasting treatment has been used to extend the shelf life of food and improves its quality, and eliminate or reduce toxic. In this study, we investigate the changes in the physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of Ginkgo biloba seeds (GBS) according to the roasting temperature and duration. As the roasting temperature and duration increased, the pH (from 7.32 to 6.31) and total cyanide content (from 1.49 to 0.70 µg/g) decreased, whereas the titratable acidity (from 0.39 to 0.84%) increased. The antioxidant activities increased rapidly at 210 °C according to the increase in the roasting temperature and duration. The 4'-O-methylpyridoxine (MPN) content in the 210 °C heat treatment group decreased by more than 70% compared to the MPN content in the control group. These results suggest that heat-treated GBS could be used in food materials and medicines for decreasing cyanide and MPN contents as well as for increasing antioxidant compound contents.

Phytochemical and physical properties of blueberries, tart cherries, strawberries, and cranberries as affected by different drying methods

The effects of hot-air drying (AD), freeze drying (FD) and Refractance Window drying (RWD) on the retention of anthocyanins, phenolics, flavonoids, vitamin C and B, and antioxidant capacity (ORAC) in blueberries, tart cherries, strawberries, and cranberries, as well as organic acids and proanthocyanins in cranberries and chlorogenic acid and catchins in blueberries were evaluated. Changes in color, glass transition, specific heat, and surface morphology of the dried fruits were also evaluated. The quality retention in the dried fruits was found to be product and drying method specific. The FD products exhibited a better retention of vitamin C, ORAC, anthocyanins, and phenolics than the AD and RWD fruits. The RWD produced samples with a less effective ORAC, anthocyanins, and phenolics retention, but a higher total vitamin B retention compared to the FD products. The AD-dried fruits displayed significantly lesser quality retention in most of the quality indexes measured in the study.

Electrochemical signatures of multivitamin mixtures

Distinct electrochemical signatures of multivitamins using cyclic square wave voltammetry at a disposable screen printed electrode.