The comparison of techniques and methods for L-ascorbic acid determination in the fruits

Vitamin C is an essential vitamin for human nutrition; with the L-ascorbic acid (AA) being the active form of vitamin C. Hence, determination of the L-ascorbic acid in the natural and processed foods is very important. In the past, plenty of methods based on the reversible redox reaction of AA oxidation/DHA reduction were developed. Because of L-ascorbic acid instability in aqueous solutions, it is useful to analyze various types of extraction. The aim of this study is to compare three different methods and three different extractants for the L-ascorbic acid determination. Fruits (kiwi, lemon, orange, and grapefruit) were purchased from a local market. The L-ascorbic acid in these four samples was determined by the three different methods: the AOAC, the HPLC method with three different types of extractions, and the colorimetric method using ascorbate-oxidase. For the HPLC measurements, one part of the fruits was extracted with distilled water, the second with potassium hydrogen phosphate, and the third with 3% meta-phosphoric acid (MPA) in 8% acetic acid. The HPLC measurements of each sample were repeated three times, the AOAC titration was repeated five times, and in the calorimetric method three measurements were performed. The results were statistically evaluated related to sample basis. Statistical analysis shows that there is a significant difference between the results for all three methods of extraction for all samples, except for the grapefruit sample where no significant difference was observed between the results obtained after the buffer extraction (E2) and the metaphosphoric acid in acetic acid extraction (E3). Discriminative analysis for the HPLC determinations proves that there is a clear difference and defined border between the samples in relation to the methods of extraction during the HPLC determination.