Photochemical properties of selected flavonol dyes: Effects on their separation using capillary electrophoresis

Flavonols are naturally occurring dyes that can be extracted from plants. Because of their antioxidant properties, they are thought to have health benefits. In this study, the photochemical degradation properties of selected flavonols were investigated. Dilute solutions of dyes were exposed to light from a broadband visible light source, and the rate of photodegradation was determined by measuring the decrease in fluorescence of the dyes with respect to time. At pH 9.24, the first-order rate constants for 10?µg?mL^?1 solutions of myricetin, quercetin, kaempferol, and morin were 0.468, 0.162, 0.108, and 0.126?s^?1, respectively. Interestingly, the stability of these historical dyes was also found to be greatly affected by pH. Awareness of the photochemical properties and stability of flavonol dyes is very important for capillary electrophoresis (CE) separations. Photodegradation of the flavonol dyes under the alkaline conditions (pH 9.2) used in CE can have a profound effect on the reproducibility of repeated separations. Even a modest decrease in pH (pH 8.5) greatly improved the stability of these dyes and enabled the successful separation of these flavonol dyes with minimal degradation over time.