A fast, simple and cost-effective capillary electrophoresis (CE) method was developed for caffeine determination in different beverages (energy drinks, soft drinks). Because caffeine is neutral from electrophoretic point of view and migrates with the electroosmotic flow (EOF), micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) was chosen as the separation method. The optimum separation conditions consisted of 25 mM sodium tetraborate, 100 mM sodium dodecyl sulphate, pH 9.30, 20°C temperature, 20 kV voltage, 50 mbar/sec hydrodynamic injection, UV detection at 270 nm. Employing the optimized conditions caffeine was quantified in less than 3 minutes. The analytical performances of the method were verified in terms of accuracy, linearity, limit of detection and quantification, precision and robustness. The method was applied also to detect caffeine in coffee and tea. The advantage of MEKC over other analytical methods, particularly compared with the more frequently used HPLC methods, lies in its lower operating costs and higher environmental friendliness.
Tag Archives: caffeine
DOI: 10.2478/amma-2024-0026
Keywords: beverages, energy drinks, micellar electrokinetic chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, soft drinks, caffeine, coffee
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Effect of Caffeine on Pain Management
DOI: 10.2478/amma-2020-0030
Caffeine is a widely consumed substance, as its main intake reasons are its memory and concentration enhancing properties. Beside these well-known effects, there has been put forward a hypothesis that caffeine consumption along with antinociceptive medication can potentiate the analgesic effect of this class of drugs. Our aim was to point out the importance of this particular potentiator effect by selecting and analyzing all papers on this topic written in English from the Medline database, published until the present moment. We observed that caffeine can represent a significant aid for certain patients in matters of pain management, by both reducing the pain killer doses and by increasing life quality.
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