title: Direct and selective flow-injection method for the simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of calcium and magnesium in red and white wines using online dilution based on "Zone Sampling".
abstract: The present work reports a selective and simple flow injection method for the direct and simultaneous determination of calcium and magnesium ions in red, rose, and white wines. Both ions react with methylthymol blue (MTB) at a strongly basic medium to form colored complexes that are monitored spectrophotometrically (lambda(max) = 610 nm). The simultaneous determination is achieved by online masking of magnesium by 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ). Incorporating an online dilution mode based on the "zone sampling" technique in the FI system, the determination of both analytes was achieved without any pretreatment of the samples, in the range 0-350 mg L(-1) and 0-200 mg L(-1) for Ca(II) and Mg(II), respectively. The 3 sigma detection limits were quite satisfactory (2.1 and 1.8 mg L(-1) for Ca(II) and Mg(II) respectively), and the precision was 1.2% (at a mixture of 100.0 mg L(-1) Ca(II) + 100.0 mg L(-1) Mg(II), n = 12). A detailed study of interferences proved that the proposed method is highly selective. The application of the method to the direct analysis of red, rose, and white wines yielded excellent results compared with those obtained by using FAAS as a reference method (e(r) < 2.8%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54006 Thessaloniki, Greece. themelis@chem.auth.gr
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Themelis
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Tzanavaras
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Trellopoulos
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Sofoniou
mesh_terms: D001979:Bromthymol Blue / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D002118:Calcium / Q000032:analysis*; D017022:Flow Injection Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D007202:Indicators and Reagents / Q000737:chemistry; D008274:Magnesium / Q000032:analysis*; D015125:Oxyquinoline / Q000737:chemistry; D013053:Spectrophotometry / Q000379:methods*; D014920:Wine / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D007202:Indicators and Reagents; C002074:methylthymol blue; D015125:Oxyquinoline; D008274:Magnesium; D002118:Calcium; D001979:Bromthymol Blue