Recovery and Quantification of Ascorbic Acid from Ethyl Cellulose

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a water soluble vitamin that is essential for growth and development. Because it is heat, light, and moisture sensitive, ascorbic acid is coated in ethyl cellulose which slows the degradation of the bioactive ingredient in products. In order to accurately quantify the amount of ascorbic acid in a product, it must be extracted from the coating. A common method to extract the bioactive ingredient from its coating is boiling the sample for an hour which may cause degradation and loss of the bioactive ingredient. The liquid-liquid extraction method bypasses the damage done by the boiling method and yields a more efficient extraction. HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) was used to quantify the amount of ascorbic acid recovered using each method. The liquid-liquid method recovered 92% of vitamin C from the coating whereas the boiling method recovered 83% of vitamin C.