Determination of acesulfame K, saccharin and aspartame in various foods.

Abstract

A simple and rapid method for the determination of acesulfame K (AK), saccharin (SA) and aspartame (APM) by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using an ion-pair partition system was described. Samples were dialyzed with 1% phosphoric acid for 24 h. For APM, the dialyzate was passed through a Bond Elut SCX column. The column was washed with water, and APM was eluted with a mixture of methanol-15% sodium chloride (1 : 1). For AK and SA, tetra-n-propyl ammonium bromide was added to the dialyzate. The sample solution was passed through a Bond Elut C18 column, and AK and SA were eluted with a mixture of methanol-water (4 : 6). The eluate was passed through a Bond Elut SAX column. The column was washed with 0.5% phosphoric acid and water. Then AK and SA were eluted with 0.3 N hydrochloric acid. Three sweeteners were separated on a Finepak C18S column with a mixture of methanol-water (2 : 8) adjusted to pH 4.0 containing 0.1 M tetra-n-propylammonium hydroxide and detected at 210 nm. The recoveries of AK, SA and APM added to various kinds of foods at levels of 50 and 200 μg/g were 90-104%, 90-103%, 92-102%, respectively. The detection limits of AK and APM were 10 μg/g and of SA was 5 μg/g.