Comparison of methods for rapid analysis of quercetin.

Quercetin is a polyphenol of growing interest that is present in many foods. In this study, we compared two methods for its determination in samples of drinks made of juice and in dietary supplements, one chromatographic (HPLC) and other spectrofluorimetric (constant-wavelength synchronous spectrofluorimetry). To confirm the identification of the quercetin in the samples an HPLC-PDA-MS/MS system was used. It was concluded that both methods are suitable for dietary supplements and the choice of one or the other depends on the type of sample, time available for the analysis as well as the available resources. For juice beverages only HPLC is suitable.