Abstract

The appropriate intake of fluoride (F–) is beneficial to human health; however, the over-consumption can result in various potentially harmful effects. This study compared different colorimetric reagents, i.e., aluminium-xylenol orange (Al-XO), zirconium-xylenol orange (Zr-XO), and zirconium-alizarin red S (Zr-ARS), for fluoride measurements by the UV-Vis, in terms of reaction mechanisms, method sensitivity, and interferences from aluminium and ferric ions. The colorimetric procedures were optimized, and the analytical methods were evaluated. The goodness of linearity (R2 > 0.998) was obtained for all three assays within the concentration range of 1.0-20.0 mg/L fluoride in deionized water, in which the method sensitivity followed the descending order of Zr-XO > Al-XO > Zr-ARS. The Zr-XO was applied for determining the fluoride in different tea extracts in water (90 °C and 60-minute-brewing) and black tea demonstrated the highest fluoride content (3.0-3.6 mg/L). The effects of brewing time and temperature on the release of fluoride in the tea extracts were also investigated, indicating these are critical factors for the fluoride extraction. This study highlighted the application potentials of the UV-Vis measurement as a simple, convenient, and cheap analytical approach and discussed different colorimetric reagents used for fluoride determination in tea extracts in the context that the UV-Vis spectrophotometers are commonly equipped in most laboratories.