High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic Determination of Ascorbic Acid in Fruits, Vegetables and Juices

Abstract

Abstract A high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed for the determination of ascorbic acid in fruits, vegetables and juices. Samples were homogenized with 0.2 M phosphate buffer pH 2.0 and extracted with 3% metaphosphoric acid. Ascorbic acid was analyzed on a polymer C18 column (RLRP-S 100A) with UV detection at 244 nm. The mobile phase was 1.8% tetrahydrofuran and 0.3% metaphosphoric acid in HPLC water. Percent recoveries were 90% or greater. The method has been shown to be very reproducible with the percent coefficients of variation (%CV) ranging from 1.3 to 10.6 for 22 different products. The majority of the %CV were below 4. Analyses of several fruits, vegetables and juices have shown a wide range of ascorbic acid content. Dehydroascorbic acid and isoascorbic acid were separated from ascorbic acid with this system.