Abstract
A novel and simple method for the determination of β-carotene, a carotenoid abundant in plants and fruits, is proposed. Multicommutated flow injection analysis (MCFIA) has been applied as automated flow methodology to the analysis of β-carotene in tropical fruit juices and food supplements, making use of the quenching effect caused by this analyte over glutathione-capped CdTe quantum dots (QDs) fluorescence signal. Under optimized conditions, the method was linear in the range of 0.3–15 μg mL−1, with a detection limit of 0.09 μg mL−1 and relative standard deviations lower than 3%. The determination rate was of about 80 h−1, and results were in good agreement with those provided by both the manufacturer and a chromatographic reference method.
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Acknowledgements
J.J.L. acknowledges research scholarship from Spanish Government (“Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia”).
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This study was funded by the “Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad” (grant number CTQ2016-7511-R).
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J. Jiménez-López declares that she has no conflict of interest. J.L.M. Santos declares that he has no conflict of interest. P. Ortega-Barrales declares that she has no conflict of interest. A. Ruiz-Medina declares that he has no conflict of interest.
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Jiménez-López, J., Santos, J., Ortega-Barrales, P. et al. New Perspectives of Quantum Dots in the Food Field: Determination of β-Carotene in Tropical Fruit Juices and Food Supplements. Food Anal. Methods 10, 2412–2421 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-017-0811-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-017-0811-8