A simple minimized system based on moving drops for antioxidant analysis using a smartphone

Abstract

In this paper, a novel antioxidant analysis is proposed using a simple minimized device based on moving drops as solution handling and a smartphone as a detector. This approach is based on the colorimetric determination of the scavenging activity against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH•), expressed as the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50), vitamin C equivalent antioxidant capacity (VCEAC), and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC). A small drop of the positive control or the samples moves by eluting an ethanol drop down by the force of gravity to react with a DPPH• drop in the detection zone. The color change of DPPH• is monitored by a smartphone camera, and the color signals are processed using Adobe Photoshop software. The magenta-to-yellow ratio was successfully applied to evaluate the percentage of DPPH• inhibition with no significant difference compared with the reference spectrophotometric method at a confidence level of 95%. The total phenolic content (TPC) was measured using the Folin–Ciocalteu assay. An application to Miang (fermented tea leaf extract) showed the consonant relationship between the scavenging activity of DPPH• and TPC.