Nunes, N.Leça, João M.Pereira, Ana C.Pereira, VandaFerraz, S.Barreto, Maria CarmoMarques, José C.Carvalho, M.A.A. Pinheiro de2021-03-082021-03-082019Nunes, N., Leça, J. M., Pereira, A. C., Pereira, V., Ferraz, S., Barreto, M. C., ... & de Carvalho, M. P. (2019). Evaluation of fucoxanthin contents in seaweed biomass by vortex-assisted solid-liquid microextraction using high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection. Algal Research, 42, 101603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.algal.2019.101603http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/3155Fucoxanthin is considered an important marine bioactive compound with biological properties with promising effects, namely on health. A simple and efficient analytical methodology is proposed for its quantification in seaweed biomass by using vortex-assisted solid-liquid microextraction (VASLME) followed by reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) photodiode array detection (PDA) analysis. This microextraction uses reduced quantities of sample (25 mg) and solvent (300 μL of ethanol) to efficiently extract this high-valued xanthophyll, in a vortex time of 15 min. These extraction parameters were optimized performing a Central Composite Design (CCD) analysis, running 32 individual experiments. In turn, the method validation was assessed. The linearity of the method was confirmed (R2 = 0.99998) in a concentration range from 12 to 3600 μg·g−1 dw. Also, good sensitivity and accuracy results were observed through the LOD (3.33 μg·g−1 ), LOQ (10.09 μg·g−1 ) and recovery (varied from 95 to 97%) assessments. Good precision was also verified, with intra-day variation within 2.0–3.3%, and inter-day within 1.0–3.8%. Matrix effect was also evaluated and an acceptable variation of 3.4% was found. The method applicability was confirmed by the analysis of 22 seaweed biomass samples and fucoxanthin content was found to vary from about 10 to 853 μg·g−1 dw. This method demonstrated a good performance and can be successfully implemented for a rapid, reliable and accurate screening of fucoxanthin in seaweed biomass.engFucoxanthin.Faculdade de Ciências da Vidajournal article10.1016/j.algal.2019.101603