**1. Introduction**

370 Macro to Nano Spectroscopy

Santos-Buelga, C. And A. Scalbert. (2000). Proanthocyanidins and tannin-like compounds-

Shimomura, O. (2006). *Bioluminescence: chemical principles and methods*. World Scientific

Singleton, V. L., and J. A. Rossi. (1965). Colorimetry of total phenolics with phosphomolybdic-phosphotungstic acid reagents. *Am. J. Enol. Vitic*. 16, 144. Spigno, G., D. M. De Faveri, (2007). Assessment of process conditions on the extraction of

Spranger, I.M., C. M. Clímaco, B. Sun, N. Eiriz, C. Fortunato, A. Nunes, C. M. Leandro, M. L.

Staško, A., V. Brezova, M. Mazur, M. Čertik, M. Kalinak & G. Gescheidt. (2008). A

Strlič, M., T. Radovič, J. Kolar, and B. Pihlar. (2002). Anti- and pro-oxidative properties of gallic acid in Fenton-like systems*. J. Agric. Food Chem*. 50, 6313-6317. Tsao, R., Z. Deng. (2004). Separation procedures for naturally occurring antioxidant

Urbano-Cuadrado, M., M.D. Luque de Castro, P.M. Pérez-Juan, J. García-Olmo, M. A.

Vitrac, X., J. P. Monti, J. Vercauteren, G. Deffieux, J. M. Mérillon. (2002). Direct liquid

Weingerl V, M. Strlič, D. Kočar. (2009). Comparison of methods for determination of

Weingerl, V., M. Strlič, D. Kočar. (2011). Evaluation of the chemiluminometric method for determination of polyphenols in wine. *Analytical Letters*. 44, 1310-1322. Woraratphoka, J., K. O. Intarapichet, K. Indrapichate. (2007). Phenolic compounds and

Zorn, M. E., R. D. Gibbons, and W. C. Sonzogni. 1997. Weighted least squares approach to

function of concentration*. Anal. Chem.* 69 (15), 3069–3075.

absorbance and fluorescence detection. *Anal. Chim. Acta.* 458, 103-110. Vršič, S., B. Pulko, J. Valdhuber. (2009). Influence of defoliation on carbohydrate reserves of

Avelar, P. A. Belchior. (2004). Total polyphenolic compounds contents (TPC), total antioxidant activities (TAA) and HPLC determination of individual polyphenolic compounds in selected Moravian and Austrian wines. *Anal. Chim. Acta*. 513, 151-

comparative study on the antioxidant properties of Slovakian and Austrian wines.

Gómez-Nieto. (2004). Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy and multivariate analysis in enology Determination or screening of fifteen parameters in different

chromatographic analysis of resveratrol derivatives and flavanonols in wines with

young grapevines in the nursery. *European journal of horticultural science*. 74, 5, 218-

polyphenols in wine by HPLC-UV/VIS, LC/MS/MS and spectrophotometry. *Acta* 

antioxidative properties of selected wines from the northeast of Thailand*. Food* 

calculating limits of detection and quantification by modeling variability as a

*Science of Food and Agriculture.* 80, 1094-1117.

antioxidants from grape marc. *J. Food Eng*. 78, 793-801.

*LWT- Food Science and Technology*, 41, 2126-2135.

phytochemicals. *J. Chrom. B* 812, 85-99.

types of wines. *Anal. Chim. Acta.* 527, 81-88.

Publishing, New Jersey, USA.

161.

222.

*Chim. Slov.* 56, 3, 698-703.

*Chem*. 104, 1485-1490.

nature, occurrence, dietary intake and effects on nutrition and health. *Journal of the* 

Why nearly 200 years after the accidental discovery of natural iodine by Bernard Courtois (Dijon, France, 1811) are researchers still intrigued by this element? Why do they constantly search for more sensitive and reliable methods of its determination? During the last 200 years the status of research into the role of iodine in living organisms and the environment has progressed through many phases, from rapture over its interesting properties and healing powers to even some kind of "iodophobia". According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 2 billion people, including 285 million school-age children, are iodine deficient. And among them, iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) affect some 740 million -- with almost 50 million of them suffering from some form of brain damage resulting from iodine deficiency (United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination/ Sub-Committee on Nutrition, 2000). On the other hand, it is known that large amounts of iodine are able to block the thyroid's ability to make hormones and worsen infiltration of the thyroid by lymphocytes. According to Teng's studies (Teng et al., 2009) giving iodine to people who had adequate or excessive iodine intake increases the incidence of autoimmune thyroiditis.

It became evident that increasing familiarity with the role of iodine would translate into development and discovery of more and more powerful analytical methods and techniques. Present-day analytical techniques are capable of detecting extremely small quantities. Some of them have become routine ultra-trace measurement tools in analytical and clinical laboratories.

The aim of this review is to explore available information regarding iodine determination in various samples (mainly of biological and environmental origin) focusing on spectrophotometry and chromatography as sensitive and reliable analytical methods of its measurement.
