Abstract

The development of assays for foods is often hindered by the complicated nature of the samples. Following a plethora of sample preparation treatments to extract and partially fractionate the compounds of interest, chromatographic techniques are often used to further treat the sample in an attempt to isolate the analyte or analytes for eventual detection. Ions are separated using ion chromatography (IC), which is a type of liquid chromatography (LC), vide infra. To make matters worse, many of the major components (e.g., inorganic ions, organic acids, organic bases, carbohydrates, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides) of food samples have poor optical detection properties.