In this work, an alternative and low-cost technique for the extraction and quantification of Fe (total) from food supplements by digital image analysis is shown. The method is based on the complexation of Fe ions in solution with the 8-hydroxyquinoline ligand, forming a colored complex that is extractable from aqueous solution to polyurethane foam, coloring this one, which was initially white, to brown. After the acquisition and treatment of the digital image generated by the foam, the quantification of Fe is performed. Interference and recovery tests show that the method is not affected by concomitants in the sample. The method was applied to 3 different types of dietary supplements, and these results were compared to those obtained by FAAS, showing statistical equivalence. The limits of quantification obtained in this work was 1.78 μmol L-1, the limit of detection was 0.53 μmol L-1, the accuracy was 97.5 + 4.8% and the precision was 8.45%. The analytical curve was linear from 2.0 to 10.0 μmol L-1, with a r2 of 0.9975.
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