Separation, preconcentration and determination of cucumin in food samples

Objective: In this thesis presented, poly(HEMA-EH) cryogel synthesis and its modification with β-cyclodextrin were investigated. It was aimed to use β-cyclodextrin immobilized poly(HEMA-EH) cryogel as solid phase adsorbent for the determination of curcumin in food samples. Material and Methods: For this, cryogels were prepared by cryocopolymerization technique and modified covalently by β -cyclodextrin. Prepared cryogels were characterized by FTIR, SEM studies and swelling test. The influences of the experimental parameters including sample volume, eluent type and volume etc. on the quantitative recovery of curcumin was investigated. Results and Conclusion: Maximum curcumin adsorption efficiency of the β-cyclodextrin immobilized poly(HEMA-EH) cryogel was found to be as 43.8 mg/g cryogel. Proposed seperation and preconcentration method was applied for the UV-VIS spectrophotometric determination of curcumin in food samples. The detection limit and quantitation limit for curcumin were 17.7 µgL-1 and 59.1 µgL-1, respectively. These β-cyclodextrin immobilized cryogels were used repeatedly for 20 times without any significant decrease in their curcumin recognition capability. Keywords: Curcumin, cryogel, β-cyclodextrin, solid phase extraction