Trichloroacetic acid

Deionized water was used throughout the experiments for all dilutions and rinsing purposes. 70 % HNO₃ (Spectrosol^®, England), 70 % HClO₄ (Aldrich, A.C.S. Reagent, Germany) and 37 % HCl (Riedel–deHaen, Chem Pure, Germany) were used as received for the digestion of fruit and soil samples. Stock standard solutions of the metals (1000 mg/L) calibration standards (Buck Scientific, USA), prepared as nitrates for each element in 2 % HNO₃, were used for the preparation of calibration curves for the determination of metals in the samples. 98.5 % trichloroacetic acid (Hopkin and Williams, A.C.S. Reagent, England), meta-phosphoric acid (BDH, G.R., England), 2,4-DNPH (Schiapparelli, A.R., Italy), 95–97 % H₂SO₄ (Merck, Germany), 99.5 % thiourea (Merck, G.R., Germany), 99.5 % Br₂ (Merck, A.R., Germany) and 99.7 % l-ascorbic acid standard (BDH, AnalaR^®, England) were used for the determination of vitamin C in the fruit samples.

All reagents used in the study were of analytical grade and obtained from various sources. Ethanol, n-hexane, and ethylacetate were from Fisher Scientific U.K, Merck KGaA, Germany, and Guandang Guanghan Chemical, China, respectively. D-fructose was from Mumbai, India, HCl was from Mumbai, India, and disodium hydrogen phosphate and monosodium dihydrogen phosphate were from Guandong, China. Other reagents, such as sodium citrate, trichloroacetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, aluminum chloride, and sodium nitrite, were all bought from BDH laboratories in Poole, UK. Diagnostic kits for plasma urea, plasma creatinine, and lipid profile were purchased from Randox Laboratories Ltd., UK. Diagnostic kits for CK-MB and LDH were purchased from Biorex diagnostics UK.

Succinicacid, potassium dihydrogen and monohydrogen phosphate, glycine, pyrogallol, hydrogen peroxide, trichloroacetic acid (TCA) and ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid (EDTA), sulphosalicylic acid, and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) were purchased from BDH, England. 5,5-dithiobis-2-nitrobenzoic acid (DTNB), dihydrogen phosphate, trichloroacetic acid, carbon tetrachloride, and thiobarbituric acid were purchased from Merck Company, Darmstadt. Melatonin was obtained from MP Biomedicals, LLC., France. Folic acid was purchased from Sigma Chemical Company, USA. The rest of all other chemicals used were of analytical grade.