Carotenoid quantification of Cucurbita spp. by spectrophotometry, high-performance liquid chromatography and photoacoustics.

BACKGROUND: Photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) is a tool for the rapid and non-destructive identification of materials even without contact. In recent years, there have been several works concerning the applicability of PAS in food analytical measurements. The intention of this work is to identify whether there is a correlation between total carotenoid and the β-carotene content of pumpkin and squash measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), spectrophotometry (SP) and PAS. METHODS: ‘Crown prince F1’, ‘Veenas F1’, ‘Atlas F1’ and ‘Apollo F1’ (SAKATA) were used as experimental materials. The samples were measured in a fresh state and in a lyophilised condition with HPLC, SP and PAS. RESULTS: The results of SP show that total carotene content varies according to the species and variety. Lyophilisation resulted in lower, although varying carotene content compared to the raw form. Typical PA spectra of pumpkins were determined (300–550 nm), normalized to the carbon black powder. At 17 Hz the amplitude and carotene content shows direct proportionality in the range investigated. Photoacoustic (PA) signal and carotenoid content of pumpkin samples gave a linear correlation (R2 = 0.9821). CONCLUSIONS: The measurement of PA spectra gives reliable information about the total carotene content of pumpkin and squash samples. These findings may allow the use of PAS as a fast tool for the carotenoid determination in squashes and give the possibility of instead for the results to be used for the evaluation of squash varieties currently used for industrial processing in functional food development.

Direct photothermal techniques for rapid quantification of total anthocyanin content in sour cherry cultivars.

The analytical performance of the newly proposed laser-based photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) and of optothermal window (OW) method for quantification of total anthocyanin concentration (TAC) in five sour cherry varieties is compared to that of the spectrophotometry (SP). High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to identify and quantify specific anthocyanins. Both, PAS and OW are direct methods that unlike SP and HPLC obviate the need for the extraction of analyte. The outcome of the study leads to the conclusion that PAS and OW are both suitable for quick screening of TAC in sour cherries. The correlation between the two methods and SP is linear with R(2)=0.9887 for PAS and R(2)=0.9918 for OW, respectively. Both methods are capable of the rapid determination of TAC in sour cherries without a need for a laborious sample pretreatment.

Correlation of trans-Lycopene Measurements by the HPLC Method with the Optothermal and Photoacoustic Signals and the Color Readings of Fresh Tomato Homogenates.

The trans-lycopene content of fresh tomato homogenates was assessed by means of the laser photoacoustic spectroscopy, the laser optothermal window, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and colorimetry; none of these methods require the extraction from the product matrix prior to the analysis. The wet chemistry method (high-performance liquid chromatography) was used as the absolute quantitative method. Analytical figures of merit for all methods were compared statistically; best linear correlation was achieved for the chromaticity index a* and chroma C*.

Direct quantification of lycopene in products derived from thermally processed tomatoes: optothermal window as a selective, sensitive, and accurate analytical method without the need for preparatory steps.

The concept of the optothermal window (OW) is proposed as a reliable analytical tool to rapidly determine the concentration of lycopene in a large variety of commercial tomato products in an extremely simple way (the determination is achieved without the need for pretreatment of the sample). The OW is a relative technique as the information is deduced from the calibration curve that relates the OW data (i.e., the product of the absorption coefficient beta and the thermal diffusion length micro) with the lycopene concentration obtained from spectrophotometric measurements. The accuracy of the method has been ascertained with a high correlation coefficient (R = 0.98) between the OW data and results acquired from the same samples by means of the conventional extraction spectrophotometric method. The intrinsic precision of the OW method is quite high (better than 1%), whereas the repeatability of the determination (RSD = 0.4-9.5%, n= 3-10) is comparable to that of spectrophotometry.

Photoacoustic approach to direct determination of the total phenolic content in red sorghum flours.

Photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy in the ultraviolet and visible was demonstrated to be a suitable tool for direct determination of total phenolic content in red sorghum flours. The PA spectra obtained feature two characteristic peaks: the first centered at 285 nm is due to the aromatic amino acids, while the second one at 335 nm is associated with the total phenolic content. The outcome of the PA study was compared with the results obtained by a conventional, tedious Folin-Ciocalteau chemical method. Statistical analysis indicates no significant difference between the two methods used in this study.

Determination of total polyphenolic content in red wines by means of the combined He-Ne laser optothermal window and Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetry assay.

The He-Ne laser (632.8 nm) and the concept of optothermal window (OW), a variant of the open photoacoustic cell, were combined with the Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetry assay to quantitate phenolics in four red wines. The total polyphenolic content in selected red wines varied between 786 and 1630 mg/L gallic acid equivalent (GAE) as determined by OW-Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetry, which compares well to 778 and 1614 mg/L GAE obtained for the same wines by means of classical spectrophotometry. The originality and merit of OW colorimetry used here is that, unlike what is encountered in conventional spectrometry, no intermediate dilution step is required when total polyhenolics are determined in red wine. The precision, defined as the closeness to each other of 256 replicate readings of the OW signal, is generally better than 2%.