Resolution of kinetic system of simultaneous degradations of chlorophyll aand b by PARAFAC

A three-way resolution method based on PARAFAC analysis of fluorescence exc itation/emission matrices (EEMs) is presented to study the black kinetic sy stem of simultaneous degradations of chlorophyll a and b extracted with oth er interferents from fresh spinach. The excitation and emission spectral pr ofiles as well as the kinetic concentration profiles of chlorophyll a, b an d their degradation products, pheophytin a, b were resolved for this multi- component kinetic system. The degradation of chlorophyll to pheophytin unde r the optimized experimental conditions is confirmed to follow the first-or der reaction model. The most obvious advantage of this method is that the c omplex black multi-component kinetic system can be resolved and studied in the presence of unknown interferents by applying PARAFAC, which is capable of resolving the three-way data array provided by EEMs and giving a unique solution to the analytical problem. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All righ ts reserved.