Polarographic determination of nitrate in vegetables

A polarographic method for the determination of nitrate in vegetables is presented. The method is based on the reduction of nitrate to nitric oxide which reacts in solution with colbalt (II) and thiocyanate ions forming an electroactive complex that is reduced at the dropping mercury electrode at -0.5 V (vs. SCE). The nitric oxide is generated outside the polarographic cell by addition of ferrous ammonium sulfate and ammonium molybdate in hydrochloric acid to the previously triturated vegetable matrices. The calibration graph was linear in the range of 2-12x10(-6) mol nitrate. The recovery of nitrate in vegetable matrices (broccoli, kale, lettuce, radish, red beet, spinach, turnip and watercress) varied from 85.4 to 107.4 % and the nitrate content, expressed as sodium nitrate, varied from 751 to 10 806 mg kg(-1) of fresh vegetable. The relative standard deviation for the proposed method is lower than 7% and considering a sample of 5.0 g, the determination limit was 39 mg of nitrate per kg fresh vegetable weight. The precision and accuracy of the polarographic method were comparable to those of the reference spectrophotometric method (official AOAC reference method for the determination of nitrate in foodstuffs).