Comparative analysis of the spectrophotometry based total phenolic acid estimation methods

This paper proposes a total phenolic acid estimation technique for samples with unknown phenolic acid composition and preliminary sample screening in resource-constrained settings. Phenolic acids constitute one of the important secondary metabolites for industry and researchers, but appropriate technique for its estimation by rural entrepreneurs is unclear. This study compared spectrophotometric Arnov test (AT) and potassium iodate test (PT) on the basis of seven parameters namely input requirements, process, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), linearity range, interferences and different phenolic compounds response. As per the results of the study PT is better than AT in input requirements, process, interference and different phenolic compounds response whereas AT is better than PT in LOD, LOQ and linearity range. Therefore, the study concluded that PT could be more suitable for rural entrepreneurs.