Discussion
Overall, the method created for the determination of riboflavin via fluorescence has potential to provide useful information regarding the starting concentration of riboflavin as well as the consumption rate of the vitamin in media, when analyzed at different activation times. The decrease in riboflavin over time makes sense as the bacteria and archaea in the media use the vitamin as a cofactor in the digestion of cellulose as well as with other sugars and fats. (2) The The LOD and LOQ of the acetic acid solution were well below the concentration standards used for riboflavin, though the LOQ was close to the riboflavin values when the media was run on its own. With the standard addition, however, the majority of the riboflavin concentrations …show more content…
Pyridoxine has been observed to be mostly stable at a neutral pH. (7) However, pyridoxine has several natural derivatives, one of which fluoresces at the same wavelength and another three that fluoresce at nearby wavelengths. (9) These derivatives could have the potential to both increase or decrease in fluorescence intensity based on the pH or chemical makeup of their environment. (9) The presence of these derivatives as well as the environment they were placed in should have been accounted for by the standard addition process, but if the matrix varied between media use, it is possible mixture variations could have added to the inconsistency of pyridoxine. The most likely source of error, however, was likely found in the water, as mentioned earlier. Whereas riboflavin’s solvent of acetic acid solution seemed to quench some of the water’s peak intensities at the wavelengths of interest for riboflavin, nothing was used to reduce water’s peaks in the pyridoxine sets. Since water has inconsistent fluorescence at excitation and emission wavelengths similar to that of pyridoxine, clear resolution and accurate data was not obtained for this
Overall, the method created for the determination of riboflavin via fluorescence has potential to provide useful information regarding the starting concentration of riboflavin as well as the consumption rate of the vitamin in media, when analyzed at different activation times. The decrease in riboflavin over time makes sense as the bacteria and archaea in the media use the vitamin as a cofactor in the digestion of cellulose as well as with other sugars and fats. (2) The The LOD and LOQ of the acetic acid solution were well below the concentration standards used for riboflavin, though the LOQ was close to the riboflavin values when the media was run on its own. With the standard addition, however, the majority of the riboflavin concentrations …show more content…
Pyridoxine has been observed to be mostly stable at a neutral pH. (7) However, pyridoxine has several natural derivatives, one of which fluoresces at the same wavelength and another three that fluoresce at nearby wavelengths. (9) These derivatives could have the potential to both increase or decrease in fluorescence intensity based on the pH or chemical makeup of their environment. (9) The presence of these derivatives as well as the environment they were placed in should have been accounted for by the standard addition process, but if the matrix varied between media use, it is possible mixture variations could have added to the inconsistency of pyridoxine. The most likely source of error, however, was likely found in the water, as mentioned earlier. Whereas riboflavin’s solvent of acetic acid solution seemed to quench some of the water’s peak intensities at the wavelengths of interest for riboflavin, nothing was used to reduce water’s peaks in the pyridoxine sets. Since water has inconsistent fluorescence at excitation and emission wavelengths similar to that of pyridoxine, clear resolution and accurate data was not obtained for this