Contactless conductivity detection of sodium monofluoroacetate in fruit juices on a CE microchip

Rapid and quantitative determination of sodium monofluoroacetate in diluted fruit juices (dilution 1:9 v/v in deionized water) and tap water was performed by microchip CE, using contactless conductivity detection. A separation buffer consisting of 20 mM citric acid and histidine at PH 3.5 enabled the detection of the monofluoroacetate (MFA) anion in diluted apple juice, cranberry juice, and orange juice without lengthy sample pretreatments. The analyte was very well separated from interfering anionic species present in juices and tap water. LODs in diluted juices and tap water were determined to be 125, 167, 138, and 173 mu g/L for tap water, apple juice, cranberry juice, and orange juice, respectively, based upon an S/N of 3:1. Taking into account the dilution factor, the LODs for juice samples range from 1 to 2 mg/L, which is adequate for monitoring the toxicity of MFA in these juice beverages and tap water. The calibration curves for MFA in diluted fruit juices were linear over the range of 500 mu g/L to 80 mg/L. The total analysis time for detecting the MFA anion in fruit juices was less than 5 min, which represents a considerable reduction in analysis time compared to other analytical methods currently used in food analysis.