Determination of cyanide in bamboo shoots by microdiffusion combined with ion chromatography–pulsed amperometric detection

A practical method for the determination of cyanide in bamboo shoots has been developed using microdiffusion preparation integrated with ion chromatography–pulsed amperometric detection (IC-PAD). Cyanide was released from bamboo shoots after Conway cell microdiffusion, and then analysed by IC-PAD. In comparison with the previously reported methods, derivatization and ion-pairing agent addition were not required in this proposed microdiffusion combined with IC-PAD method. The microdiffusion parameters were optimized including hydrolysis systems, temperature, time, and so on. Under the optimum conditions, the linear range of the calibration curve for cyanide was 0.2–200.0 µg kg(−1) with satisfactory correlation coefficients of 0.9996 and the limit of detection was 0.2 µg kg(−1) (S/N = 3). The spiked recovery range was from 92.8 to 98.6%. The intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviations of cyanide were 2.7–14.9% and 3.0–18.3%, respectively. This method was proved to be convenient in operation with high sensitivity, precision and accuracy, and was successfully applied in the determination of cyanide in bamboo shoot samples.