Folin-Ciocalteu spectrophotometric assay of ascorbic acid in pharmaceutical tablets and orange juice with pH adjustment and pre-extraction of lanthanum(III)-flavonoid complexes

BACKGROUND: This study proposes modifications to the conventional Folin-Ciocalteu (FC) spectrophotometric method for individually determining ascorbic acid (AA) in complex matrices in the presence of other phenolics and potential interferents. The conventional FC assay in the aqueous phase, which normally measures total water-soluble phenolics and other antioxidants, has recently been modified by incorporating isobutanol (iso-BuOH) in the solvent mixture for the simultaneous determination of lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidants in foods