Electrified liquid - liquid interface strategy for sensing lactic acid in buttermilk extract

Area of Science:

• Electrochemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Food Science

Background:

• Lactic acid (LA) is a crucial indicator of freshness in various food products.
• Accurate quantification of LA is essential for food quality control and safety.
• Traditional methods for LA detection may lack sensitivity or require complex sample preparation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop novel electrified interfaces for the sensitive electrochemical quantification of lactic acid.
• To compare the performance of liquid-liquid and liquid-organogel interfaces for LA sensing.
• To demonstrate the applicability of the developed method for LA analysis in real food matrices.

Main Methods:

• Development of electrified liquid-liquid and liquid-organogel interfaces.
• Electrochemical sensing using adsorptive stripping voltammetry.
• Optimization of preconcentration time and other parameters for enhanced sensitivity.

Main Results:

• The liquid-organogel interface exhibited superior sensitivity for lactic acid detection compared to the liquid-liquid interface.
• Optimized conditions yielded low detection limits (0.97 μM for liquid-liquid, 0.71 μM for liquid-organogel) and high sensitivity.
• Successful quantification of lactic acid was achieved in buttermilk, validating the method's practical utility.

Conclusions:

• Electrified interfaces, particularly the liquid-organogel type, provide a highly sensitive platform for electrochemical lactic acid sensing.
• The developed methodology is effective for the quantification of lactic acid in complex food matrices like buttermilk.
• This approach offers a promising tool for food quality assessment and freshness monitoring.