Modification of White Method for Quantitative Evaluation of 5hydroxymethylfurfural in Honey

Abstract

Authors: G. Okibe, G.A. Shallangwa, I. Usman

The White method for determination of 5hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) content in honey was successfully modified using Perchloric acid (HClO4) as replacement for zinc acetate (Zn (CH₃CO₂)2·2H₂O) and potassium ferrocyanide (K₄Fe (CN) 6·3H₂O) to serve as Deproteinizing agent, and Sodium bisulphite (NaHSO₃) was replaced with sodium pyrosulphite (Na2S2O5) for the chromophore removal of 5-HMF at 284 nm. The proposed method was validated by evaluation of parameters such as linearity, precisions (reproducibility and intermediate), accuracy, and limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), ruggedness and robustness. The correlation coefficients for the calibration curves were 0.9994 and 0.9923. The method is in agreement with Beers- Lamberts law at the concentration range of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 mg/kg. The values of reproducibility and intermediate precision in honey samples were 2.65, 2.67, 3.03, 4.73, and 1.90 % respectively. The recoveries for the analyses were between 81.4 % and 104.6 %, LOD and LOQ were 0.12 and 0.36 mg/kg at 284 nm and 0.06 and 0.17 mg/kg at 336 nm respectively. The ruggedness of the method was 1.23 and 1.00 %, and the robustness were 0.64 and 0.42 %. The results obtained suggest that Perchloric acid and sodium pyrosulphite can successfully replace zinc acetate, potassium ferrocyanide and Sodium bisulphite which are scarce and expensive reagents. The Modified method is suitable for routine determination of 5-HMF in honey. samples