Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A Rapid and Sensitive Method for Semicarbazide Screening in Foodstuffs by HPLC with Fluorescence Detection

  • Published:
Food Analytical Methods Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Semicarbazide (SEM) has been proven to extensively exist in foodstuffs due to anthropogenic factor in food processing and possesses various toxic effects on human health. Although many methods have been developed, they often require long analytical time, complex laboratory equipment, trained personnel, difficultly prepared antibodies, or relatively expensive equipment. The present study developed a new method for SEM determination by HPLC with fluorescence detection (FLD). The fluorescence reagent, 2-(11H-benzo[a]carbazol-11-yl) ethyl chloroformate (BCEC), was first used for SEM labeling. The fluorescent labeling conditions were optimized systematically. SEM can be labeled in only 10 min at 40 °C. The labeled SEM was analyzed on an eclipse XDB-C8 column in 8 min. The new method offered the low LOD of 0.4 μg/kg at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 and also exhibited excellent reproducibility, precision, and accuracy. When applied to analyze several foodstuffs, it showed good applicability. The developed method has been proven to be simple, inexpensive, selective, sensitive, accurate, and reliable for SEM analysis in foodstuffs. Furthermore, this developed method should have a powerful potential in the analysis of SEM from many other food samples.

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

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Becalski A, Lau B, Lewis D, Seaman S (2004) Semicarbazide formation in azodicarbonamide-treated flour: a model study. J Agric Food Chem 52(18):5730–5734

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bezerra M, Santelli R, Oliveira E, Villar L, Escaleira L (2008) Response surface methodology (RSM) as a tool for optimization in analytical chemistry. Talanta 76(5):965–977

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bogialli S, Di Corcia A (2009) Recent applications of liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry to residue analysis of antimicrobials in food of animal origin. Anal Bioanal Chem 395(4):947–966

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cháfer-Pericás C, Maquieira Á, Puchades R (2010) Fast screening methods to detect antibiotic residues in food samples. TrAC–Trend Anal Chem 29(9):1038–1049

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen G, Li J, Zhang S, Song C, Li G, Sun Z, You J (2012) A sensitive and efficient method to systematically detect two biophenols in medicinal herb herbal products and rat plasma based on thorough study of derivatization and its convenient application to pharmacokinetics with semi-automated device. J Chromatogr A 1249:190–200

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen G, Li J, Sun Z, Zhang S, Li G, Song C, Suo Y, You J (2014) Rapid and sensitive ultrasonic-assisted derivatisation microextraction (UDME) technique for bitter taste-free amino acids (FAA) study by HPLC–FLD. Food Chem 143:97–105

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper KM, Samsonova JV, Plumpton L, Elliott C, Kennedy DG (2007) Enzyme immunoassay for semicarbazide—the nitrofuran metabolite and food contaminant. Anal Chim Acta 592(1):64–71

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • de la Calle MB, Anklam E (2005) Semicarbazide: occurrence in food products and state-of-the-art in analytical methods used for its determination. Anal Bioanal Chem 382(4):968–977

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Stefano V, Pitonzo R, Avellone G, Di Fiore A, Monte L, Ogorka A (2014) Determination of aflatoxins and ochratoxins in Sicilian sweet wines by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorometric detection and immunoaffinity cleanup. Food Anal Methods. doi:10.1007/s12161-014-9934-3

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiang W, Luo P, Wang X, Chen X, Zhao Y, Shi W, Wu X, Wu Y, Shen J (2012) Development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of nitrofurantoin metabolite 1-amino-hydantoin in animal tissues. Food Control 23(1):20–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jin W, Yang G, Wu L, Wang Q, Shao H, Qin A, Yu B, Li D, Cai B (2011) Detecting 5-morpholino-3-amino-2-oxazolidone residue in food with label-free electrochemical impedimetric immunosensor. Food Control 22(10):1609–1616

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kabashima T, Yu Z, Tang C, Nakagawa Y, Okumura K, Shibata T, Lu J, Kai M (2008) A selective fluorescence reaction for peptides and chromatographic analysis. Peptides 29(3):356–363

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li G, Dong L, Wang A, Wang W, Hu N, You J (2014) Simultaneous determination of biogenic amines and estrogens in foodstuff by an improved HPLC method combining with fluorescence labeling. LWT-Food Sci Technol 55(1):355–361

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McCracken R, Hanna B, Ennis D, Cantley L, Faulkner D, Kennedy D (2013) The occurrence of semicarbazide in the meat and shell of Bangladeshi fresh-water shrimp. Food Chem 136(3):1562–1567

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mulder P, Beumer B, Van Rhijn J (2007) The determination of biurea: a novel method to discriminate between nitrofurazone and azodicarbonamide use in food products. Anal Chim Acta 586(1):366–373

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Noonan GO, Warner CR, Hsu W, Begley TH, Perfetti GA, Diachenko GW (2005) The determination of semicarbazide (N-aminourea) in commercial bread products by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. J Agric Food Chem 53(12):4680–4685

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Noonan GO, Begley TH, Diachenko GW (2008) Semicarbazide formation in flour and bread. J Agric Food Chem 56(6):2064–2067

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • O’Mahony J, Moloney M, McConnell RI, Benchikh EO, Lowry P, Furey A, Danaher M (2011) Simultaneous detection of four nitrofuran metabolites in honey using a multiplexing biochip screening assay. Biosens Bioelectron 26(10):4076–4081

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rezaee M, Yamini Y, Faraji M (2010) Evolution of dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction method. J Chromatogr A 1217(16):2342–2357

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sheng L, Chen M, Chen S, Du N, Liu Z, Song C, Qiao R (2013) High-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection for the determination of nitrofuran metabolites in pork muscle. Food Addit Contam A 12:2114–2122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang Y, Xu J, Wang W, Xiang J, Yang H (2011) A sensitive immunochromatographic assay using colloidal gold–antibody probe for the rapid detection of semicarbazide in meat specimens. Eur Food Res Technol 232(1):9–16

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Valera-Tarifa NM, Plaza-Bolaños P, Romero-González R, Martínez-Vidal JL, Garrido-Frenich A (2013) Determination of nitrofuran metabolites in seafood by ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry. J Food Compos Anal 30(2):86–93

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vass M, Diblikova I, Kok E, Stastny K, Frgalova K, Hruska K, Franek M (2008) In-house validation of an ELISA method for screening of semicarbazide in eggs. Food Addit Contam 25(8):930–936

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xie Y, Li P, Zhang J, Wang H, Qian H, Yao W (2013) Comparative studies by IR Raman and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy of azodicarbonamide biurea and semicarbazide hydrochloride. Spectrochim Acta A 114:80–84

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ye J, Wang XH, Sang YX, Liu Q (2011) Assessment of the determination of azodicarbonamide and its decomposition product semicarbazide: investigation of variation in flour and flour products. J Agric Food Chem 59(17):9313–9318

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • You J, Zhao W, Liu L, Zhao X, Suo Y, Wang H, Li Y, Ding C (2007) Determination of amines using 2-(11H-benzo [a] carbazol-11-yl) ethyl chloroformate (BCEC-Cl) as labeling reagent by HPLC with fluorescence detection and identification with APCI/MS. Talanta 72(3):914–925

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yu Z, Kabashima T, Tang C, Shibata T, Kitazato K, Kobayashi N, Lee M, Kai M (2010) Selective and facile assay of human immunodeficiency virus protease activity by a novel fluorogenic reaction. Anal Biochem 397(2):197–201

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31301595, 21475075, 21475074, and 21275089), the Open Project Program of Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Products Processing and Safety, Guangdong Ocean University (GDPKLAPPS1401), PhD research start-up funds of Qufu Normal University (bsqd 2012017), and the Soft Science Project of Shandong Province (2013RKA08020).

Conflict of Interest

Guoliang Li declares that he has no conflict of interest. Chenhong Tang declares that he has no conflict of interest. Ying Wang declares that she has no conflict of interest. Jing Yang declares that she has no conflict of interest. Hongliang Wu declares that he has no conflict of interest. Guang Chen declares that he has no conflict of interest. Weiheng Kong declares that he has no conflict of interest. Xiaojian Kong declares that he has no conflict of interest. Shucheng Liu declares that he has no conflict of interest. Jinmao You declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Processing and Safety, College of Food Science and Technology, Guangdong Ocean University, 524000, Zhanjiang, People’s Republic of China

    Guoliang Li & Shucheng Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Life-Organic Analysis of Shandong Province, Qufu Normal University, 27365, Qufu, People’s Republic of China

    Guoliang Li, Ying Wang, Jing Yang, Guang Chen, Xiaojian Kong, Weiheng Kong & Jinmao You

  3. Center for Bioenergetics, Biodesign Institute, and Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Chenhong Tang

  4. Key Laboratory of Tibetan Medicine Research, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 810008, Xining, People’s Republic of China

    Hongliang Wu & Jinmao You

Authors
  1. Guoliang Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chenhong Tang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ying Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jing Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Hongliang Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Guang Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Xiaojian Kong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Weiheng Kong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Shucheng Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Jinmao You
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Shucheng Liu or Jinmao You.

Additional information

Chenhong Tang contributed equally to this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, G., Tang, C., Wang, Y. et al. A Rapid and Sensitive Method for Semicarbazide Screening in Foodstuffs by HPLC with Fluorescence Detection. Food Anal. Methods 8, 1804–1811 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-014-0063-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-014-0063-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation