Determination of 11 kinds of ultraviolet absorbents in plastic food contact materials by high performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

A method for the determination of 11 kinds of ultraviolet (UV) absorbents in food contact materials was established based on high performance liquid chromatography. The target compounds were separated on a Agilent SB C18 (250 mm×4.6 mm×5 μm) column with gradient elution using acetonitrile and water as mobile phase, which analyzed by diode array detector and quantified by external standard method. The results showed that the linear range of the 11 UV absorbents was between 0.2 and 50.0 mg/L (R2≥0.9985), the limits of detection (LODs) were in the range of 0.01-0.05 mg/L, and the limits of quantification (LOQs) were 0.05-0.20 mg/L. The recoveries (R) of blank samples at 0.2, 10 and 50 mg/kg were from 80.2% to 97.5%, and the relative standard deviations (RSD) were ranged from 0.37% to 4.15%. The method had low detection limit, high stability and good repeatability, which could be used for daily detection of UV absorbents in food contact materials.