Highly Efficient Determination of Trace Ascorbic Acid in Vitamin C Tablets By Boronate Affinity-Modified Magnetic Metal-Organic Frameworks

Abstract

Ascorbic acid (AA) is one of the indispensable elements in the human body. The chronic nutritional deficiency of AA will lead to the symptoms of scurvy. Therefore, proper intake of ascorbic acid is very important. In this study, a dual-functional magnetic metal-organic frameworks nanoparticles was synthesized for selectively and sensitively florescent detection of AA based on hydrophilicity and boronate affinity. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric (TG), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and N2 sorption analysis. Under optimum conditions, the obtained nanoparticles can detect the concentration of AA within 30s, and has a good linear relationship with the concentration of AA in the range of 5.0-60 μM with a detection limit of 2.5 μM (S/N =3). In addition, the prepared nanoparticles showed excellent selectivity and great potential application in the highly efficient determination of trace AA in vitamin C tablets. These results indicated that a convenient method was proposed to develop fluorescent probes for rapid and sensitive detection of trace AA in real samples.

Keywords: Magnetic metal-organic frameworks, Boronate affinity, Hydrophilicity, Florescent detection, Ascorbic acid