engleski

Persistent intermediates from the vitamin C production – analysis, behaviour and possible environmental implications

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is the first vitamin to be artificially produced. Owing to its cheap mass-production, vitamin C is currently the most widely taken dietary supplement with the total annual world production of approximately 110, 000 t. Despite numerous health benefits of ascorbic acid as a highly effective antioxidant, as well as an enzyme cofactor for the biosynthesis of many important biochemicals, its manufacture seems to be associated with some environmental concerns due to the formation of persistent intermediates and/or by-products. Namely, the traditional Reichstein process, which is still employed by some large producers, involves a two-stage chemical transformation of sorbose into diacetone alpha-ketogulonic acid (DAG) as the key intermediate in the vitamin C synthesis (Figure1). The first step of that transformation leads to the formation of diacetone sorbose (DAS) as well as a suite of related diacetonated monosaccharides as by-products. It was shown that contaminants of this type reach aquatic environment either via effluents from the production facilities or after the disposal of industrial solid waste. They seem to be rather resistant towards microbial transformation and show a significant mobility in groundwater aquifers1, 2. This paper reports on the development of GC/MS- and LC/MS-based methods for the analysis of isopropylidene derivatives of monosaccharides in environmental samples and reports on their behavior in a landfill leachate.

vitamin C; intermediates; analysis; environment

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