Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction followed by spectrofluorimetry as a simple and accurate technique for determination of thiamine (vitamin B1)

Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) combined with spectrofluorimetry was applied to the extraction, pre-concentration and analysis of thiamine (vitamin B-1). The procedure is based on (a) the oxidation of thiamine with ferricyanide to form fluorescent thiochrome (TC), (b) the trapping of TC into a microextraction solvent, and (c) spectrofluorometric determination. Microextraction solvent and disperser solvent are directly injected into an aqueous solution containing TC. After centrifuging, phase separation is performed by sedimenting the fine droplets of the microextraction solvent on the bottom of a test tube. The settled phase is transferred into a fluorometer for the determination of thiamine at excitation/emission wavelengths of 375/438 nm. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the method provides a linear dynamic range of 0.2-100 ng mL(-1), a detection limit of 0.06 ng mL(-1), and a relative standard deviation of 3.0%. The method was successfully applied to pharmaceutical formulations and human urine. The results were validated by recovery test and by comparison with other methods, and were found to be highly satisfactory.