The occurrence of emerging pollutants like pharmaceuticals and related compounds in the aquatic and terrestrial environments is of increasing concern. Ciprofloxacin is one of the pharmaceuticals which is active against a wide range of bacteria. The main objective of this research is to develop a simple method for the extraction and determination of ciprofloxacin residues in environmental water samples. A salting-out assisted liquid–liquid extraction (SALLE) method for the determination of ciprofloxacin in water samples by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC–DAD) was developed. The calibration curve was linear over the range of 0.1–100 μg/L with coefficient of determination (r2) of 0.9976. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of the method were 0.075 and 0.25 µg/L, respectively. The reproducibility in terms of relative standard deviation (% RSD) was less than 10%. The applicability of the developed method was investigated by analyzing tap water, bottled mineral water and waste water and demonstrated satisfactory recoveries in the ranges of 86.4–120%. The method offered a number of features including wide linear range, good recovery, short analysis time, simple operation process and environmental friendly. The developed method can be utilized as an attractive alternative for the determination of ciprofloxacin residues in environmental water matrices.

Vegetables are consumed worldwide in fresh as well as processed forms. Pumpkin is considered as an important vegetable due to its nutritional values. The objective of this study was to evaluate all the analytical parameters and improve the performance of the methods for the determination of β-carotene in pumpkin flesh, peel, and seed samples using UV-VIS, NIR, and FTIR methods. β-Carotene was measured at 453nm using the UV-VIS method which showed linear range, 0.1 to 12µg/mL; R², 0.999; LOD, 0.034µg/mL; LOQ, 0.1µg/mL; RSD, 1.5 to 11; and percent recovery, 83 to 93. β-Carotene was also measured at 1415nm using NIR and at 1710cm⁻¹ using FTIR spectroscopic methods. The NIR method exhibited linear range, 12.5 to 250µg/mL; R², 0.999; LOD, 3.4µg/mL; LOQ, 10, µg/mL; RSD, 1.8 to 11; and percent recovery, 92 to 96, while the FTIR method exhibited linear range, 4 to 100µg/mL; R², 0.999; LOD, 1.3µg/mL; LOQ, 3.9µg/mL; RSD, 0.69 to 10; and percent recovery, 95 to 96. The characteristic analytical data indicated that any of the three newly developed methods could be used for the determination of β-carotene in the pumpkin flesh, peel, and seeds. Acetone was used as the extraction solvent for the UV-VIS and NIR spectroscopic methods, and acetonitrile was used as the extraction solvent for the FTIR method. Content of β-carotene was found higher in pumpkin peel (340445µg/g), followed by pumpkin flesh (317341µg/g) and pumpkin seed (1217µg/g) by the UV-VIS method. β-Carotene content was obtained ((376451µg/g) and (289313µg/g); (210287µg/g) and (102148µg/g)) using NIR and FTIR methods in pumpkin peel and flesh, respectively. β-Carotene was obtained higher from pumpkin peel by all the three methods than from pumpkin flesh and seed. The β-carotene content in the pumpkin seed was not detected by NIR and FTIR spectroscopic methods.

Background: The fatty acids of green coffee beans are one of the major components that determine the quality of coffee. Fatty acids composition of green coffee beans is affected by soil composition and altitude of coffee plants. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of altitude of the coffee plants on the composition of fatty acids in green coffee beans. Methods: Fatty acids contents of 40 green coffee beans samples collected from the coffee plants grown at different altitudes (group 1: 1500–1700, group 2: 1701–1900 and group 3: > 1900 m.a.s.l.) in Ethiopia were determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Chemometric data analyses were performed to determine the effects of altitude on the fatty acid composition of the green coffee beans. Results: The green coffee beans contained main saturated fatty acid, palmitic acid with an average value of 55.5 mg/g and unsaturated fatty acid, linoleic acid with an average value of 51.6 mg/g. The other major constituents of fatty acids present in green coffee beans were stearic and oleic acids with the value of 12.3 mg/g and 8.92 mg/g, respectively. Palmitic acid content in lowland green coffee beans is significantly different than in the other two regions. On the other hand, stearic and oleic acids contents in the green coffee beans did not show a significant difference between the three topographical regions. While linoleic acid content in the green coffee beans showed significant difference between group 1 and 3 but did not show significant differences between group 1 and 2 and between group 2 and 3. The four major fatty acids, palmitic (R = − 0.574), linoleic (R = − 0.506), stearic (R = − 0.43) and oleic acids (R = − 0.291) in green coffee beans showed a moderate negative correlation with the altitude of coffee plants. Conclusion: The fatty acids contents decreases with increasing altitude of the coffee plants and hence affects the quality of coffee. The fatty acid composition of green coffee beans can also be used to determine the topographical origin of coffee plants.

Pumpkins are increasingly regarded as functional foods since they contain valuable nutrients and bioactive substances that have positive health effects. The number of bioactive components depends on the origins and parts of the pumpkin, which define its antioxidant capacity. This study evaluated the total phenolic, total flavonoid, and ascorbic acid content and antioxidant activities of three parts of pumpkin from four different sample origins and investigated the correlation between them. The content of bioactive components in pumpkin from Dukem, Ethiopia, was highest in the flesh, peel, and seeds compared to the other sample areas. The Pearson correlation result indicated a strong relationship between the total phenolic, flavonoid, and ascorbic acid contents of pumpkin and their respective antioxidant activities. This study found that the total phenolic, total flavonoid, and ascorbic acid contents and antioxidant activity varied across the pumpkin sample sources and pumpkin parts. KEY WORDS: Pumpkin, Flavonoid, Phenolic, Ascorbic acid, Antioxidant activity, Ethiopia Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2023, 37(5), 1093-1108. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v37i5.3

The purpose of this study was to assess how different processing techniques affected mineral compositions, antinutritional factors, and their interactions in red, white, and black kidney beans consumed in Ethiopia. Mineral contents were found to be 41–44, 58–78, and 112–126 mg Ca/100 g in the raw, soaked, and cooked samples, respectively. Iron content in the raw, soaked and cooked samples were found to be 2.77–2.97, 1.94–2.20 and 2.87–3.28 mg Fe/100 g, respectively, showing 26–30% loss on soaking followed by 33–48% increase on cooking. While Zn content in the raw, soaked and cooked samples were found to be 2.47–3.26, 3.34–4.68 and 2.83–3.31 mg Zn/100 g, respectively, showing 35–43% increase on soaking followed by 15–29% decrease on cooking. In the case of antinutrients, both treatments showed incredible decrements. Phytate in the raw samples was 178-179 mg/100 g and showed a 12–16% decrement on soaking and a 37-38% decrement up on cooking, oxalate was 1.5–1.8 mg/100 g in the raw samples and showed a 4.4–13% decrement during treatments, and tannin in the raw samples was 102–160 mg/100 g and showed a 23–30% decrement on soaking, followed by 21–41% during cooking. Phytate : Ca and oxalate : Ca molar ratios in soaked and cooked samples were within the critical values in the raw samples. In contrast, phytate : Zn and Ca × phytate : Zn in all treatments were found to be within the critical value, confirming the good bioavailability of zinc in all the samples, while phytate : Fe was found over the critical value, showing its poor availability.