Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry · 1997 · 11 citations · 0 references
AgricultureChemistryFood ScienceAnalytical ChemistryFood AnalysisFood AuthenticationFlavor ChemistryFlavor EvaluationFlavoring PlantsInstrumental AnalysisAlkaline Water ElectrolysisLiquid Scintillation CountingLiquid Scintillation SpectroscopyNatural Flavor CompoundsNatural Product ExtractionProduct Provenance AuthenticationSample AnalysisTritium Extraction
A practical means of using tritium to authenticate a natural versus a synthetic (petroleum-derived) origin of food and flavoring extracts has been demonstrated. Extracts derived from natural botanicals reflect a tritium content incorporated during the plant's growth stages, while petroleum-derived products, because of the relatively short half-life of tritium, have no measurable tritium content. Natural and petroleum-derived samples of the common flavorant benzaldehyde were combusted by Parr bomb and enriched in tritium using an alkaline electrolysis technique. Tritium activities were measured using an ultra-low-level liquid scintillation counter, with the results demonstrating a clear difference in the tritium content of natural and petroleum-derived benzaldehyde samples and a good agreement between the natural sample and the steady-state concentration of tritium reported for the northern hemisphere. Keywords: Tritium; tritium enrichment; alkaline electrolysis; natural product authentication; botanical extracts