Estimation of selected nitrogen compounds, nickel and phosphates in foodstuffs by continuous flow systems

Abstract

Flow injection analysis offers distinct advantages in reproducibility, flexibility, sample throughput and cost performance. Since it was introduced in 1975, there are more than 10 000 publications to date. The present study focuses on the development of process analysers for the determination of nitrogen compounds (namely, nitrate, nitrite and protein), nickel, and phosphate in various combination in samples originating from various fields, such as foodstuffs, water, and fertilisers. Nitrite is potentially unstable; it decomposes with time under acidic medium with an increase in decomposition rate as the concentration of acid increases. Raman spectroscopy was employed as a means of determining the rate of decomposition of nitrite in solutions at various pH values. A simple method for the determination of nitrite in foodstuffs by flow injection analysis (FIA) is described. The foodstuffs containing nitrite are digested in a microwave oven and then treated with 1 moℓ/Q NH4CI solution at pH 9. The simultaneous determination of nitrate and nitrite in foodstuffs and water was also studied. Cadmium (coarse powder) was used to reduce nitrate to nitrite. The effect of pH, length of reductor column, and various types of cadmium reductor on the yield of nitrite are investigated. The flow injection method was developed for the spectrophotometric determination of nickel in cured meat. Dimethylglyoxime (DMG) in acetate buffer at pH 6.4 nickel forms a red complex which is measured at 475 nm. The effects of chemical and physical parameters in flow injection analysis were studied. A new bienzymatic amperometric sensor is proposed for the assay of proteins in milk. The sensor is based on two enzymes, namely, carboxypeptidases A and L-amino acid oxidase. The use of flow injection analysis and Raman spectroscopy for the determination of phosphate in foodstuffs and fertilisers, is also compared in this study.