Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Sensitive Spectrofluorimetric Method for the Determination of Nitrite in Agricultural Samples

  • Published:
Food Analytical Methods Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A simple, selective, and very sensitive spectrofluorimetric method was developed for the determination of nitrite in vegetables. The method is based on the reaction between nitrite and 4-amino-3-hydroxynaphthalene-1-sulfonic acid (AHNSA) which results in the quenching of the fluorescence of AHNSA. Optimal values of the factors influencing the reaction between nitrite and AHNSA were explored by central composite design (CCD). The factors were pH of the acidic solution and concentration of AHNSA. In optimal conditions, difference between fluorescence intensity of AHNSA and its fluorescence intensity in the presence of nitrite at 442 nm was selected as the analytical signal. The relation between signal and concentration of nitrite was linear in the range of 0.005–0.500 mg L−1. A detection limit of 2.5 × 10−3 mg L−1 was obtained for the determination of nitrite by the proposed method. Using the proposed method, it is possible to determine trace amounts of nitrite in vegetable samples with relative errors lower than 6 %. The relative standard deviation (RSD) values of the method for the determination of nitrite in cucumber, cabbage, lettuce, and tomato samples were 0.12, 0.20, 0.86, and 0.13 %, respectively. Moreover, the proposed method was validated by comparison with a standard method.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Scheme 1
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbas MN, Mostafa GA (2000) Determination of traces of nitrite and nitrate in water by solid phase spectrophotometry. Anal Chim Acta 410:185–192

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Abdul Galil MS, Mahadevaiah MS, Yogendra K, Nagendrappa GA (2007) Simple and rapid spectrophotometric method for the determination of nitrite by its decolorizing effect on peroxovanadate complex. Spectrochim Acta A 67:76–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Afkhami A, Bahram M, Gholami S, Zand Z (2005) Micell-mediated extraction for the spectrophotometric determination of nitrite in water and biological samples based on its reaction with p-nitroaniline in the presence of diphenylamine. Anal Biochem 336:295–299

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Akyuz M, Ata S (2009) Determination of low level nitrite and nitrate in biological, food and environmental samples by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. Talanta 79:900–904

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • AOAC (1995) Official methods of analysis, 16th ed. Association of Analytical Communities, Arlington

  • Aoki T, Fukuda S, Hosoi Y, Mukai H (1997) Rapid flow injection analysis method for successive determination of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in water by gas-phase chemiluminescence. Anal Chim Acta 349:11–16

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Argϋelles MTF, Cañabate B, Fernández JMC, Pereiro R, Medel AS (2004) Flow injection determination of nitrite by fluorescence quenching. Talanta 62:991–995

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aydın A, Ercan Ö, Tascıoğlu S (2005) A novel method for the spectrophotometric determination of nitrite in water. Talanta 66:1181–1186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barzcgar M, Mousavi MF, Nemati A (2000) Kinetic spectrophotometric determination of trace amounts of nitrite by its reaction with molybdosilicic acid blue. Microchem J 65:159–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binghui Z, Zhixiong Z, Jing Y (2006) Ion chromatographic determination of trace iodate, chlorite, chlorate, bromide, bromate and nitrite in drinking water using suppressed conductivity detection and visible detection. J Chromatogr A 1118:106–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biswas S, Chowdhury B, Ray BC (2004) A novel spectrofluorimetric method for the ultratrace analysis of nitrite and nitrate in aqueous medium and its application to air, water, soil and forensic samples. Talanta 64:308–312

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Borcherding H, Leikefeld S, Frey C, Diekmann S, Steinrücke P (2000) Enzymatic microtiter plate-based nitrate detection in environmental and medical analysis. Anal Biochem 282:1–9

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Buldt A, Karst U (1999) Determination of nitrite in waters by microplate fluorescence spectroscopy and HPLC with fluorescence detection. Anal Chem 71:3003–3007

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burakhama R, Oshimab M, Grudpan K, Motomizu S (2004) Simple flow-injection system for the simultaneous determination of nitrite and nitrate in water samples. Talanta 64:1259–1265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butt SB, Riaz M, Iqbal MZ (2001) Simultaneous determination of nitrite and nitrate by normal phase ion-pair liquid chromatography. Talanta 55:789–797

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen H, Fang Y, An T, Zhu K, Lu J (2000) Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of nitrite and nitrate in water samples by flow-injection analysis. Int J Environ Anal Chem 76:89–98

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen T, Tong A, Zhou Y (2007) 2-Amino-5,7-dimethyl-1,8-naphthyridine as a fluorescent reagent for the determination of nitrite. Spectrochim Acta A 66:586–589

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connolly D, Paull B (2001) Rapid determination of nitrate and nitrite in drinking water samples using ion-interaction liquid chromatography. Anal Chim Acta 441:53–62

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Damiani P, Burini G (1986) Fluorometric determination of nitrite. Talanta 33:649–652

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Favell DJ (1998) A comparison of the vitamin C content of fresh and frozen vegetables. Food Chem 62:59–64

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gao Z, Wang G, Zhao Z (1990) Determination of trace amounts of nitrite by single-sweep polarography. Anal Chim Acta 230:105–112

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Geetha K, Balasubramanian N (2000) An extractive spectrophotometric method for the determination of nitrite using fluorescein amine isomer I. Anal Lett 33:1869–1883

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hassan SSM, Marzouk SAM, Sayour HEM (2003) Selective potentiometric determination of nitrite ion using a novel (4-sulphophenylazo-)1-naphthylamine membrane sensor. Talanta 59:1237–1244

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • He LJ, Zhang KG, Wang CJ, Luo XL, Zhang SS (2011) Effective indirect enrichment and determination of nitrite ion in water and biological samples using ionic liquid-dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction combined with high-performance liquid chromatography. J Chromatogr A 1218:3595–3600

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Helaleh MIH, Korenaga T (2000a) Fluorometric determination of nitrite with acetaminophen. Microchem J 64:241–246

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Helaleh MIH, Korenaga T (2000b) Ion chromatographic method for simultaneous determination of nitrate and nitrite in human saliva. J Chromatogr B 744(2):433–437

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huang Z, Korenaga T, Helaleh MIH (2000) Kinetic spectrofluorimetric determination of nitrite in water samples and nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere sampled by the liquid droplet method. Mikrochim Acta 134:179–183

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jiao CX, Niu CG, Huana SY, Shen Q, Yang Y, Shen GL, Yu RQ (2004) A reversible chemosensor for nitrite based on the fluorescence quenching of a carbazole derivative. Talanta 64:637–643

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jie NQ, Yang DL, Jiang QB, Zhang Q, Wei L (1999) A fluorescence quenching method for the determination of nitrite with indole. Microchem J 62:371–376

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kalimuthu P, John SA (2009) Highly sensitive and selective amperometric determination of nitrite using electropolymerized film of functionalized thiadiazole modified glassy carbon electrode. Electrochem Commun 11:1065–1068

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kawakami T, Igrashi S (1996) Highly sensitive spectrophotometric determination of nitrite ion using 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-aminophenyl)porphine for application to natural waters. Anal Chim Acta 333:175–180

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kazemzadeh A, Ensafi AA (2001) Sequential flow injection spectrophotometric determination of nitrite and nitrate in various samples. Anal Chim Acta 442:319–326

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Keeney DR, Byrnes BH, Genson JJ (1970) Determination of nitrate in waters with the nitrate-selective ion electrode. Analyst 95:383–386

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kidmose U, Knuthsen P, Edelenbos M, Justesen U, Hegelund E (2001) Carotenoids and flavonoids in organically grown spinach (Spinacia oleracea L) genotypes after deep frozen storage. J Sci Food Agric 81:918–923

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lapat A, Székelyhidi L, Hornyák I (1997) Spectrofluorimetric determination of 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazacyclohexane (hexogen, RDX) as a nitramine type explosive. Biomed Chromatogr 11:102–104

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee SH, Field LR (1984) Postcolumn fluorescence detection of nitrite, nitrate, thiosulfate, and iodide anions in high-performance liquid chromatography. Anal Chem 56:2647–2653

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • López Pasquali E, Fernandez Hernando P, Durand Alegria JS (2007) Spectrophotometric simultaneous determination of nitrite, nitrate and ammonium in soils by flow injection analysis. Anal Chim Acta 600:177–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • López Pasquali CE, Gallego-Picó A, Fernández Hernando P, Velasco M, Durand Alegría JS (2010) Two rapid and sensitive automated methods for the determination of nitrite and nitrate in soil samples. Microchem J 94:79–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu G, He Z, Liu Y (1992) Polarographic determination of atmospheric nitrogen oxides. Talanta 39:123–126

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Markušová K, Fedurco M (1991) Vitamin B12 as coordinating agent for the voltammetric determination of nitrite in natural waters. Anal Chim Acta 248:109–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masserini RT, Fanning KA (2000) A sensor package for the simultaneous determination of nanomolar concentrations of nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia in seawater by fluorescence detection. Mar Chem 68:323–333

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meah MN, Harrison N, Davies A (1994) Nitrate and nitrite in foods and the diet. Food Addit Contam 11:519–532

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meininger H, Li CJ, Wu G (2000) Rapid determination of nitrite by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. J Chromatogr B 746:199–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miro M, Cladera A, Estela JM, Cerda V (2000) Sequential injection spectrophotometric analysis of nitrite in natural waters using an on-line solid-phase extraction and preconcentration method. Analyst 125:943–948

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Norwitz G, Keliher PN (1978) Inorganic interferences in the 2,4-xylenol spectro-photometric method for nitrate and their elimination. Anal Chem Acta 98:323–333

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nouroozi S, Mirshafian R (2009) Flow injection kinetic spectrophotometric method for the determination of trace amounts of nitrite. Talanta 79:1149–1153

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ohta T, Arai Y, Takitani S (1986) Fluorometric determination of nitrite with 4-hydroxycoumarin. Anal Chem 58:3132–3135

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Paolo B, Tiziana Z, Eugenio B, Noemi D, Lino C, Franco Z (2001) Mixed exhaled nitric oxide and plasma nitrites and nitrates in newborn infants. Life Sci 68:2789–2797

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ridnour LA, Sim JE, Hayward MA, Wink DA, Martin SM, Buettner CR, Spitz DR (2000) A spectrophotometric method for the direct detection and quantitation of nitric oxide, nitrite, and nitrate in cell culture media. Anal Biochem 281:223–229

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Seike Y, Fukumori R, Senga Y, Oka H, Fujinaga K, Okumura M (2004) A simple and sensitive method for the determination of hydroxylamine in fresh water samples using hypochlorite followed by gas chromatography. Anal Sci 20:139–142

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stefanović SC, Bolanća T, Ćurković L (2001) Simultaneous determination of six inorganic anions in drinking water by non-suppressed ion chromatography. J Chromatogr A 918:325–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suvardhana K, Kumara KS, Babua SH, Jayarajb B, Chiranjeevia P (2005) RETRACTED: Simultaneous flow-through determination of nitrites, nitrates and their mixtures in environmental and biological samples using spectrophotometry. Talanta 66:505–512

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsikas D, Böger RH, B-Böger SM, Gutzki FM, Frölich JC (1994) Quantification of nitrite and nitrate in human urine and plasma as pentafluorobenzyl derivatives by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using their 15N-labelled analogs. J Chromatogr B 661:185–191

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang H, Yang W, Liang SC, Zhang ZM, Zhang HS (2000) Spectrofluorimetric determination of nitrite with 5,6-diamino-1,3-naphthalene disulfonic acid. Anal Chim Acta 419:169–173

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wen ZH, Kang TF (2004) Determination of nitrite using sensors based on nickel phthalocyanine polymer modified electrodes. Talanta 62:351–355

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • West PW, Ramachandran TP (1966) Spectrophotometric determination of nitrate using chromotropic acid. Anal Chem Acta 35:317–324

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Williams WJ (1979) Handbook of anion determination. Butterworths, London, p 119

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Yilmaz UT, Somer G (2008) Determination of trace nitrite by direct and indirect methods using differential pulse polarography and application. J Electroanal Chem 624:59–63

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yue XF, Zhang ZQ, Yan HT (2004) Flow injection catalytic spectrophotometric simultaneous determination of nitrite and nitrate. Talanta 62:97–101

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X, Wang H, Liang SC, Zhang H-S (2002) Spectrofluorimetric determination of nitric oxide at trace levels with 5,6-diamino-1,3-naphthalene disulfonic acid. Talanta 56:499–504

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the Razi University Research Council for support of this work.

Compliance with Ethics Requirements

This is an original research article that has neither been published previously nor considered presently for publication elsewhere. And, all authors named in the manuscript are entitled to the authorship and have approved the final version of the submitted manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

Masoud Shariati-Rad declares that he has no conflict of interest. Mohsen Irandoust declares that he has no conflict of interest. Farahnaz Niazi declares that she has no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

    Masoud Shariati-Rad, Mohsen Irandoust & Farahnaz Niazi

Authors
  1. Masoud Shariati-Rad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mohsen Irandoust
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Farahnaz Niazi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Masoud Shariati-Rad.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shariati-Rad, M., Irandoust, M. & Niazi, F. A Sensitive Spectrofluorimetric Method for the Determination of Nitrite in Agricultural Samples. Food Anal. Methods 8, 1691–1698 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-014-0045-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-014-0045-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation