Determination of three preservatives and two sweeteners in food by high-performance liquid chromatography based on a new hydrophilic C18 column

Abstract

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to establish an analytical method for the simultaneous determination of five food additives—acesulfame potassium， benzoic acid， sorbic acid， sodium saccharin， and dehydroacetic acid—in food using a new hydrophilic reversed-phase PSV C18 packing column combined with high-performance liquid chromatography.MethodsThe effects of the type of C18 packing， the pH of the mobile phase， and the mobile phase ratio on the separation of the five components were investigated.ResultsThe best resolution was obtained for the five food additives when analyzed under the optimal mobile phase conditions of methanol：ammonium acetate ［0.02 mol/L， adjusted to pH 6.7； 7∶93 （v/v）］ using a new hydrophilic Blossmate PSV C18 chromatographic column. The five components had a good linear relation， with correlation coefficients all greater than 0.999 7， detection limits of 0.004-0.006 mg/L， 80.3%-106.7% recovery， and relative standard deviations ranging from 1.4% to 6.5%.ConclusionThe method established in this study has good durability and the chromatographic column used has a long lifetime， reaching more than 1 000 injections. The method is suitable for the accurate quantification of the five additives in food.

Keywords

• high-performance liquid chromatography
• food additives
• acesulfame potassium
• benzoic acid
• sorbic acid
• sodium saccharin
• dehydroacetic acid