4.2 Article

A simple and rapid electrochemical determination of pungency: Application to aqueous and ethanolic extracts ofCapsicum annuumcubana red

Journal

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL RESEARCH
Volume 45, Issue 1-2, Pages 111-115

Publisher

SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/1747519820930965

Keywords

capsaicin and ascorbic acid; capsicum; chili pepper; electrochemical detection; pungency

Funding

  1. Operative Framework Funding FEDERAndalucia 2014-2020 Program [UCO-1263679]
  2. PAIDI group FQM 198 (Junta de Andalucia, Spain)

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The article proposes a fast, simple, and affordable method for determining the pungency and content of ascorbic acid in chili pepper extracts. The method involves evaluating the voltammetric behavior of capsaicin and using a variant of the standard addition method for simultaneous determination. The sensitivity of this method is comparable to more expensive and time-consuming methods.
Chili peppers are rich in ascorbic acid and capsaicin. In this article is proposed an easy, fast, sensitive, and inexpensive method for determining the pungency and content of ascorbic acid in chili pepper extracts. The voltammetric (cyclic and differential pulse) behavior of capsaicin on a glassy carbon electrode has been evaluated at different pH values. A calibration curve has been obtained for the peak current, I-P, of capsaicin as a function of the capsaicin concentration, C, in differential pulse voltammetry in phosphate buffer solution at pH 7.0: I-P(mu A) = 0.0147 (+/- 5.346 center dot 10(-3)) + 0.0507 (+/- 8.984 center dot 10(-4)) C(mu M), with limit of detection, LOD = 0.198 mu M, limit of quantification, LOQ = 0.660 mu M, and dynamic linear range from 0.660 to 20.9 mu M. A variant of the standard addition method has been used for simultaneous determination of the pungency and ascorbic acid content of extracts ofCapsicum annuumcubana red. In this case, the calibration for ascorbic acid was I(mu A) = 0.467 (+/- 0.012) + 2.039 center dot 10(-3)(+/- 4.601 center dot 10(-5)) V-AA(L)), with LOD = 17.56 mu L, LOQ = 58.55 mu L, and dynamic linear range from 58.6 to 500 mu L, being V(AA)the volume of 10-mM ascorbic acid added to 50 mL of solution. The ascorbic acid content was compared to that of a sweet pepper. The method is cheap, simple, and fast (30 min vs c.a. 2 h compared to the spectrophotometric method), its sensitivity being comparable to other more expensive and/or more laborious methods.

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