Development of a solid-phase extraction – spectrofluorimetric method for trace glutathione determination
A simple and efficient solid-phase extraction – spectrofluorimetric method has been developed to determine glutathione (GSH). Fluorescent probe N-(4,4-difluoro-5,7-dimethyl-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene-3-yl)methyl)iodoacetamide (BODIPY Fl-C1-IA) was used as the derivatization reagent. The procedure was based on a BODIPY Fl-C1-IA selective reaction with GSH to form the highly fluorescent product BODIPY Fl-C1-IA–GSH, using a solid-phase extraction column and spectrofluorimetric determination. The variables affecting analytical performance were studied and optimized. The calibration graph using the preconcentration system for GSH was linear over the range of 1–200 nmol/L with a limit of detection of 0.05 nmol/L (signal-to-noise ratio = 3). The relative standard deviation for six replicate determinations of GSH at the 100 nmol/L concentration level was 3.9%. The method was applied to water samples and average recoveries between 87.5% and 111.5% were obtained for spiked samples.