Direct ATR-FTIR determination of sucrose in beet root

A simple and fast procedure has been developed for the direct determination of sucrose in beet root samples through attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared absorbance measurements (ATR-FTIR) at 1056 cm−1 with a baseline established between 1187 and 887 cm−1. The method only requires a previous crushing or liquefaction of samples and it is free from matrix effects and from the interference of minoritary sugars and fermentation molecules. Aqueous solutions of sucrose can be used as standards and recovery values from 101 to 103% were found for spiked concentration levels from 3.5 to 10.5% (w/w). The limit of detection provided by this method corresponds to 0.15% (w/w) of sucrose and the standard deviation of three independent analysis of a sample containing 9.30% (w/w) was 0.03% (w/w).