Preconcentration of flavonoids on polyurethane foam and their direct determination by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy

Sorption preconcentration of flavonoids quercetin, rutin, chrysin, morin, naringenin and naringin on polyurethane foam was investigated. Several parameters that could affect the preconcentration efficiency were evaluated. The preconcentration efficiency is more than 75% for all the flavonoids except for those that are carbohydrate substituted (preconcentration efficiency less than 11%). This can be used for the separation of these two types of flavonoids. An ability of some flavonoids to absorb light in PUF phase allows their direct determination by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Validation of calibration linearity, reproducibility, limits of detection and quantification was performed. The method developed allows to determine flavonoids with detection limits 0.01–0.2 μg mL−1. The method was utilized for the determination of quercetin in some plant extracts.