Full text loading...
-
Reliability of Carotenoid Analyses: A Review
- Source: Current Analytical Chemistry, Volume 1, Issue 1, Jan 2005, p. 93 - 102
-
- 01 Jan 2005
Abstract
This review critically discusses the most important properties of techniques applied to analyses for carotenoids and their impact on the reliability of the analytical results. The emphasis is placed on modern methods and the most recent references. Examples of analytical procedures illustrate the characteristics of experimental approaches to carotenoid analyses but no systematic survey of applications is given. Carotenoids are characterized chemically and their occurrence and functions in organisms are outlined. The principal implications of the (bio)chemical properties of carotenoids for the selection of an appropriate analytical procedure and for optimisation of the experimental conditions are dealt with. Various aspects of pretreatment and preconcentration of analytical samples are discussed, emphasizing modern approaches, such as microwave-assisted extraction or supercritical fluid extraction; the problems connected with chromatographic purification of carotenoids and with the obtaining of reliable standard materials are also dealt with. The approaches to determination of carotenoids involving high-performance separations are evaluated, emphasizing the importance of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and capillary electrochromatography (CEC); of the detection techniques, spectrophotometry in ultraviolet and visible region (UV/VIS spectrophotometry), electrochemistry, thermal lens spectrometry (TLC), mass spectrometry (MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and some aspects of vibrational spectrometry are primarily discussed.