Comparison of column-coupled electrophoresis with liquid chromatography methods in food analysis of quinine

Comparison of column-coupled electrophoresis with liquid chromatography methods in food analysis of quinine (QUI) is presented in this work. The capillary isotachophoresis (CITP) on-line coupled with capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and hyphenated with fibre-based spectrophotometric diode array detection (DAD) was compared with, (i) high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with DAD detection, and (ii) HPLC method with fluorescence detection (FD). These methods were compared through their performance parameters and determined concentrations of QUI in beverages. The concentrations of QUI in two selected bitter drinks determined by the CITP-CZE-DAD method were in a good accordance with the HPLC-DAD and HPLC-FD methods. In addition, the electrophoretic method, as well as the chromatographic methods, was able to separate potential QUI related impurities from the QUI peak. The CITP-CZE-DAD method provided excellent performance parameters that were comparable (precision, accuracy, LOD, robustness) or even better (separation efficiency) than those ones provided by the chromatographic methods. Moreover, the effectivity of the electrophoresis method was higher when considering cost of analysis (equipment, consumption of separation systems), environmental aspects (organicvs. aqueous solvents), on-line sample pretreatment (CITP preconcentration and sample clean-up suitable also for the more complex matrices). Considering these findings, CITP-CZE-DAD was approved as a routine automatized method for the highly reliable quality food control.

Energy-dispersive and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron microscopy of new quininium-plastic membrane electrodes

New quininium (Qn) plastic membrane electrodes of the conventional type were constructed and characterized. They are based on incorporation of Qn-reineckate (QnRn) ion-pair, Qn-phosphotungstate (Qn3-PT), or Qn-phosphomolybdate (Qn3PM) ion associate into a poly(vinyl chloride) membrane. The electrodes are selective for Qn and have been successfully used for the determination of Qn2SO4 in pharmaceutical tablets. Nevertheless, they showed, as almost all other ion-selective electrodes, limited life times. Energy dispersive- (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), as well as electron microscopy were applied to investigate the cause of this limitation in the life times of the electrodes. The results indicated that the electrodes lose their activity after prolonged soaking as a result of leaching of the ion exchanger from the membranes into the test solution in addition to deformation at the surface of the expired electrode.

Reverse micelle-based chemiluminescence system for quinine sulphate

A new chemiluminescence (CL) method is proposed for the determination of quinine sulphate, which is based on the dichloromethane solvent extraction of the ion-pair complex of tetrachloroaurate (III) with quinine sulphate, and luminol CL detection in a reversed micellar medium formed by the cation surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide in a dichloromethane-cyclohexane (3:7, v/v)-water (0.35 mol/L Na2CO3 buffer solution, pH 11.5). The ion-pair complex of tetrachloroaurate (III) with quinine sulphate produced an analytical CL signal when it entered the reversed micellar water pool. In optimum conditions, CL intensities are proportional to the concentrations of the studied drug over the range 0.015-10 microg/mL, with a detection limit of 1.5 ng/mL. The relative standard deviation (RSD) is 1.38% for 2.5 microg/mL quinine sulphate (n=11). The method has been applied to the determination of the studied drug in biological fluids, with satisfactory results.