Micellar-enhanced synchronous spectrofluorimetric determination of anticancer trans-Resveratrol: a sustainable quality control tool for dietary supplements integrating circular analytical chemistry in the post-reform FDA era

Abstract

The growing dietary supplement (DS) market continues to face concerns regarding product quality and regulatory oversight. In response, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a sweeping reorganization to consolidate and modernize its food-related divisions under the Human Foods Program. As part of this effort, the Office of Dietary Supplement Program has been integrated into a newly established Office of Food Chemical Safety, Dietary Supplements, and Innovation, underscoring the urgent need for improved analytical capabilities and sustainable quality control frameworks. In this context, we developed and validated a sustainable and green micellar-enhanced synchronous spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of trans- Resveratrol (RES), a bioactive polyphenol widely used in DS formulations. The method employs micellar enhancement using Triton X-100 (TX-100) to amplify the native fluorescence of RES without requiring chemical derivatization or photodegradation, offering a greener alternative to conventional chromatographic techniques. The method showed excellent sensitivity with a detection limit of 1.78 ng/mL and linearity over 10–170 ng/mL. Sustainability was systematically assessed through multi-dimensional tools confirming the method’s minimal environmental impact. A novel sustainability framework was introduced in this work via alignment with Circular Analytical Chemistry (CAC) goals, marking the first application of this emerging concept in analytical method evaluation. These results reinforce the method’s suitability for deployment in modern quality control laboratories aligned with the FDA’s regulatory modernization goals. This study not only introduces RES as a model compound for micellar-enhanced fluorimetry but also demonstrates the potential of spectrofluorimetry as a sustainable, regulatory-aligned platform for the evolving landscape of DS quality assessment.