Determination of the dissociation constants of sulfonated azo dyes by capillary zone electrophoresis and spectrophotometry methods.

The dissociation constants of 10 sulfonated azo dyes, six of the most common food colours used as additives (Food Yellow 4, Food Yellow 3, Food Red 9, Food Red 7, Food Red 17 and Food Blue 5), and four commonly used as textile dyes (Acid Orange 7, Acid Orange 12, Acid Red 26 and Acid Red 88), have been determined by two different systems, one by using capillary electrophoresis (CE) with diode array detection and the other by using UV-visible absorption spectrophotometry, which has been used as reference method to obtain the pKa values. The pKa values obtained by CE were determined in two ways, first on the basis of the electrophoretic mobilities (calculated from the migration times), and after we propose a new methodology, in which the dissociation constants are determined from the spectra corresponding to the maxima of electrophoretic peaks. The pKa values obtained by using these CE methods have been compared with those obtained by using the spectrophotometric method. The results show that the pKa values obtained by the CE proposed method are in general closer to the reference values than those obtained from the electrophoretic mobilities. Moreover, the proposed method retains the advantages of CE, as the possibility of working with small amounts of sample, despite its purity.

Determination of sulfonated azo dyes in river water samples by capillary zone electrophoresis.

A method based on capillary zone electrophoresis coupled with photodiode-array detection has been developed to determine several sulfonated dyes, including a sulfonated dye (acid yellow 1), and the sulfonated azo dyes acid orange 7, acid orange 12, acid orange 52, acid red 26, acid red 27 and acid red 88. A CElect-FS75 CE column is used. The electrophoresis buffer contains a 1:5 dilution of 10 mM phosphoric acid and tetrabutylammonium hydroxide buffer (pH 11.5), and 25 mM of triethylamine, the final pH being 11.55. The detection limits for the seven dyes ranged from 0.1 to 4.53 microg/ml. Spiked river water samples (100 ml), containing different concentration levels (0.025-0.150 microg/ml) of the dyes were analyzed after acidification (pH 3) and pre-concentration in disposable SPE Oasis HLB, 1 ml cartridges.

Determination of sulphonate dyes in water by ion-interaction high-performance liquid chromatography.

An ion-interaction high-performance liquid chromatography method for quick separation and determination of the sulphonated dyeAcid Yellow 1, and the sulphonated azo dyes Acid Orange 7, Acid Orange 12, Acid Orange 52, Acid Red 2, Acid Red 26, Acid Red 27 and Acid Red 88 has been developed. An RP-ODS stationary phase is used, and the mobile phase contains an acetonitrile-phosphate buffer (27:73, v/v) mixture at pH 6.7, containing 2.4 mM butylamine as ion-interaction reagent. Good separations were obtained using isocratic elution and spectrophotometric detection at 460 nm. The detection limits for the eight dyes ranged from 7 to 28 microg/l for an injection volume of 100 microl. Spiked tap water samples (100 ml), containing different concentration levels (0.3-1.2 microg/l) of the dyes were analyzed after acidification (pH 3) and preconcentration in disposable solid-phase extraction C18 cartridges.

Determination of dyes in foodstuffs by capillary zone electrophoresis.

A rapid method based on capillary zone electrophoresis coupled with photodiode-array detection has been developed to determine the dyes Tartrazine E-102, Sunset Yellow FCF E110, Amaranth E-123, New Coccine E-124, Patent Blue V calcium salt E-131 and Allura Red AC E-129 in foodstuffs. Separation was done by using a Bare CElect-FS75 CE column, using a 10 mM phosphate buffer at pH 11.0. Hydrodynamic injections at 0.5 p.s.i. for 4 s (21 nl of sample) and 20 kV separation voltage were used. The quantitation limits for the six dyes ranged from 3 to 6 microg/ml. A linear relationship between 3 to 95 microg/ml, with correlation coefficient better than 0.995 was obtained. This method has been applied to the determination of the studied dyes in beverages, jellies and syrups.