A compact environmentally friendly microcontrolled microfluidic device ideal for in situ phosphate determination was developed based on a microsystem based on low-temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) coupled to a light-emitting diode (LED)–photometer with a multicommutation flow analysis (MCFA) approach. The experimental parameters of the MCFA analyzer were optimized by chemometric studies. Under the best experimental conditions, limits of detection and quantification of 0.02 mg P L–1 and 0.07 mg P L–1, respectively, and a sampling frequency of 67 h–1 were estimated. Moreover, a low sample consumption of only 60 μL per determination was the other advantage that fully meets the requirements of sustainable research and green chemistry purposes.
AbstractAn automated flow analyzer based on low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC), a solid-phase reactor (SPR) and a low-cost photometer was designed for ascorbic acid (AA) determination in pharmaceutical formulations. It consists of a peristaltic pump, three-way solenoid valves, SPR to chemically convert Cu(II) into Cu(I), and a LTCC device for mixing the liberated copper with bathocuproine and detection. The flow cell in the LTCC employed an ultrabright LED — photodiode photometer. The analyzer successfully determined AA in pharmaceutical formulations. The analytical curve from 8.5×10−6 to 7.0×10−4 M gave a detection limit of 7.0×10−7 M and a RSD of 2.1% for a 2.0×10−4 M AA solution (n = 10). A high sampling frequency of 102 h−1 and low reagent and sample consumption (150 µL) resulted.