Identification of functional groups present in bigel and estimating their concentration by FTIR spectroscopy; experimental study

Abstract

Gel formulations of oleogel, hydrogel, and oleo-hydrogel (bigel) were evaluated as transdermal drug delivery systems, but recently various studies have proved that gel-based delivery systems are also able to improve the stability and bioavailability of many bioactive food ingredients. It has been proven that higher concentration of oleogel in bigel, precisely 7:3 OG:HG ratio, enhanced the viability of probiotic bacteria. And this study aims to identify all the organic compounds present in that bigel, determine their respective functional group and estimate their concentration. This work was an experimental research design conducted in Food Technology Laboratory at B.B. Ambedkar University with technical assistance provided by CytoGene Research and Development in Lucknow, India. The experimental work was conducted from January to April 2021. Spectroscopic technique was the primary analysing tool used which is based on the absorption or emission of IR radiation. Fourier Transform FT is an instrument that uses the mid-region of IR spectrum for qualitative and quantitative analysis of food. FTIR technique in food industry was basically established for quality control by evaluating industrially manufactured material, and can often serve as the first step in material analysis process (proximate analysis).  The IR spectra of the sample in which %T was a function of wavenumber cm-1 had three main regions, from which the most important region (1500-3000 cm-1) had three peaks, by using the frequency range reference table, it was found that Alkyl group (methyl) and Carbonyl group (ester) were the functional groups of the sample. Absorbance was calculated using Beer Lambert Law. Lastly, the concentration for which a standard curve of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester FAME was used. 0.36 gmL-1 was the conc. of methyl and 0.14 was gmL-1 was the conc. of ester. This study concluded that, FTIR had shown to provide higher accuracy and a significant reduction in total analysis time, and the ability to perform a variety of common fat and oil analyses such as iodine value, saponification number and peroxide value by FTIR is a realistic possibility.