Belmont chemistry major Nisa Syed recently presented her research “Determining the kinetic order of the degradation of L-ascorbic acid through spectroscopic analysis” at this year’s National American Chemical Society (ACS) conference. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, all poster presentations were given virtually this year.
Syed’s research was conducted under the advisement of Dr. Danielle Garrett, associate professor of chemistry education at Belmont, and involved a kinetic study using UV-Vis spectrometry to analyze vitamin C concentration changes over time to analyze the degradation of vitamin C in canned fruits and fruit juices. The hope is that Syed’s study can be used by future researchers to find a way to slow down this degradation so that there is more vitamin C left in products in order for the consumer to get more vitamin C in their diet.
