Degradation conditions multiple-step

In general, it is very difficult reliably to extract and quantitate multiple vitamins from complex food systems, due to their diverse physical and chemical properties. Consequently, the extraction of the vitamins from the food matrix is usually the greatest challenge of vitamin analysis. This is especially true for the naturally occurring vitamins, which are often bound to other food constituents, such as carbohydrates or proteins. To prevent vitamin degradation or loss, the extraction conditions should complement the labile nature of the vitamins. Indiscriminate mixing and matching of extraction and quantitation methods is not recommended, since the extraction conditions can affect subsequent separation and quantitation steps. 

Although ozone-alkene reactions were not specified in the original objectives of LACTOZ they constitute a loss process for ozone and are important for degradation of unsaturated hydrocarbons, in particular alkenes with multiple double bonds and complex structures, such as are found in the biogenic hydrocarbons. Emphasis in LACTOZ has been on the rates and mechanisms under atmospheric conditions. These studies led to downward revision of the rate constants of the O3 alkene reactions, due to complications arising in many earlier investigations from secondary reactions of radicals produced in the primary step. Some important hitherto unknown aspects of ozone reactions, such as the formation of peroxides and their dependence on the water vapour concentrations, have been discovered in LACTOZ. 

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