Application of ACC method to synchronous luminiscence: determination of alpha-tocopherol and alpha-tocopheryl acetate in beverages

A new method based on the Q parameter, that permits the determination of the C(compound A)/C(compound B) ratio without preparing calibration graphs of the two compounds, is proposed. This method has been applied to signals obtained by synchronous luminiscence. Simultaneous determination of alpha-tocopherol and alpha-tocopheryl acetate in beverages using synchronous fluorescence has been carried out. To isolate the compounds from samples, liquid extraction with n-hexane as the organic phase was employed. The presence of interferences was tested using the apparent content curves (ACC) method and the C(alpha-tocopherol)/C(alpha-tocopheryl acetate) ratio was calculated using the Q parameter. The reproducibility and detection limit for the determination of alpha-tocopherol and alpha-tocopheryl acetate were 6.6% and 0.016 mg/L and 1.8% and 0.017 mg/L, respectively.