Sample preparation of tropical and subtropical fruit biowastes to determine antioxidant phytochemicals

This work is a review of the analytical strategies dealing with antioxidant phytochemicals in tropical and subtropical fruit by-products. The determination of bioactive compounds encompasses a number of different aspects and the analytical strategy employed depends on the biowaste, analyte and nature of the problem. In general, an analytical strategy involves recovering antioxidant phytochemicals from the sample matrix followed by separation, identification and measurement. For most phytochemicals, the recovery step typically involves extraction using a range of solvents. However, sample handling is often an ignored feature of the analysis. This review highlights the importance of sample preparation in the analysis of phytochemicals from tropical and subtropical fruit biowastes and the problems that can arise during this step. The various procedures are summarized and some typical “case studies” are presented.