Application of Response Surface Methodology and Dispersive Liquid–Liquid Microextraction by Microvolume Spectrophotometry Method for Rapid Determination of Curcumin in Water, Wastewater, and Food Samples

A simple and efficient determination of curcumin in water and food samples based on the combination of dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) and spectrophotometric estimation has been described. The effects of DLLME effective parameters [extraction solvent (CHCl₃), disperser solvent (ethanol), pH, centrifugation time, and KCl concentration] were optimized via central composite design (CCD) and response surface methodology (RSM) and desirability function (DF) using STATISTICA. At optimum condition specified as 150 μL of chloroform, 900 μL of ethanol, pH = 4.0, and 4 min of centrifugation time in the absence of any salt, a linear calibration graph in the range of 10–2000 ng mL⁻¹ of curcumin with R² = 0.99942 (n = 6) confirms good applicability of the method for quantification of analytes over a wide range of analytes. The reasonable limit of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) (0. 23 and 0.78 ng mL⁻¹, respectively) makes it suitable for trace analysis. Good relative standard deviation [1.16–2.3 % (n = 12)] and high enrichment factor (EF) 2182.04 are a good remark of the present method. Curcumin with relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 3 % (n = 4) and recoveries in the range 91.76–100 % can be successfully quantified in different real samples.