The efficiency of ultrasonic-assisted extraction of cyanocobalamin is greater than heat extraction

Cyanocobalamin, like other water-soluble vitamins, is susceptible to degradation due to exposure to heat, UV, oxygen and pH. Built on our previous finding, this study aimed to assess the extraction efficiency of cyanocobalamin from dietary supplements. Particularly, cyanocobalamin extraction in a 100 °C water bath was compared with ultrasonic-assisted extraction, with and without the addition of 1 mg/L sorbitol, xylitol and erythritol. Ground defatted samples of supplement tablets were initially treated for 15 min, centrifuged and filtered before quantitative HPLC analysis. Addition of sorbitol and xylitol significantly minimised the thermal degradation during extraction in a 100 °C water bath, as shown in measured cyanocobalamin (~145 μg/tablet) that was higher than the control (100 μg/tablet, p < 0.05). Despite the addition of sugar alcohols, mean cyanocobalamin in ultrasonic extracted samples (~170 μg/tablet) was not significantly different from those without (p > 0.05). Overall, mean cyanocobalamin in sonicated samples was higher than heat-extracted counterparts, suggesting that extraction in a 100 °C water bath was likely to cause thermal degradation. It was possible that ultrasonic-assisted extraction had no effect on cyanocobalamin stability and would lead to a higher extraction efficiency. Therefore, 15 min extraction in an ultrasonic bath can be suggested to be adequate to release cyanocobalamin before its quantitative determination.