QUANTITATIVE-ANALYSIS OF WATER-SOLUBLE VITAMINS BY ATR-FTIR SPECTROSCOPY

HPLC and microbiology are the methods traditionally employed to contro l the vitamin content in food mixtures. However, considerations of cos t, time of analysis per sample and complexities involved in the techni que have hampered the acceptance of those methods for raw materials an alysis. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy has substantial potential as a quantitative quality control tool for the food industr y. FTIR analysis methods are convenient, rapid, accurate, and in conju nction with Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) technology, simplify sa mple handling. The advantage of choosing FTIR as a quantitative techni que lies in its ability to readily carry out multicomponent analysis i n association with software such as Partial Least Squares (PLS) regres sion. Results presented here were obtained from water-soluble vitamins (B1, B2, B6 and Niacin) mixtures diluted into a glucose matrix withou t any chemical extraction. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.