Study of the Photodegradation Process of Vitamin E Acetate by Optical Absorption, Fluorescence, and Thermal Lens Spectroscopy

The stability of vitamin E acetate exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light was studied using three spectroscopic methods. An ethanol solution of vitamin E acetate was treated with either UVC light (254 nm) or UVA light (366 nm) during a period of 10 min followed by a study of UV-Vis optical absorption, then by fluorescence spectroscopy excitation by UV radiation at either 290 nm or 368 nm and, finally the solution was studied by thermal lens spectroscopy. Immediately, the same solution of vitamin E acetate was subjected to the UV irradiation process until completion of six periods of irradiation and measurements. UVC light treatment induced the appearance of a broad absorption band in the range of 310 nm to 440 nm with maximum absorbance at 368 nm, which progressively grew as the time of the exposure to UVC light increases. In contrast, UVA light treatment did not affect the absorption spectra of vitamin E acetate. Fluorescence spectra of the vitamin E acetate (without UV light treatment) showed no fluorescence when excited with 368 nm while exciting with 290 nm, an intense and broad emission band (300 nm to 440 nm) with a maximum at 340 nm appeared. When vitamin E acetate was treated with UVC light, this emission band progressively decreased as the time of the UVC light irradiation grew. No signal from UV-untreated vitamin E acetate could be detected by the thermal lens method. Interestingly, as the time of the UVC light treatment increased, the thermal lens signal progressively grew. Additional experiments performed to monitor the time evolution of the process during continuous UVC treatment of the vitamin E acetate using thermal lens spectroscopy exhibited a progressive increase of the thermal lens signal reaching a plateau at about 8000 s. This study shows that the vitamin E acetate is stable when it is irradiated with UVA light, while the irradiation with UVC light induces the formation of photodegradation products. Interestingly, this photodegradation process using the study of the thermal lens effect could be followed closely even though poor absorption of the photodegraded product of the vitamin E acetate was observed at the laser wavelength used. As the thermal lens method allowed for accurate monitoring of the extent of photodegradation of the vitamin E acetate, this study opens the photodegradation process as a new application to be added to the recent applications of thermal lens spectroscopy in chemical analysis.