Determination of dimethyl yellow and diethyl yellow in yuba and dried beancurd by modified QuEChERS method and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

A modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe) method followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric analysis was developed for the determination of dimethyl yellow and diethyl yellow in yuba and dried beancurd. Yuba and dried beancurd samples were soaked by deionized water, then acetonitrile was added to extract the analytes. Sodium chloride and anhydrous magnesium sulfate were added for liquid-liquid separation. The extracts were cleaned-up by dispersive solid-phase using N-propyl diethylamine. The analytes were separated by liquid chromatography and determined by mass spectrometry. External standard method was used for quantification. The recoveries of dimethyl yellow were in the range of 73.5%-84.5% at spiked levels of 0.3, 1 and 10 kg/kg and the recoveries of diethyl yellow were in range of 70.5%-81.2% at spiked levels of 0.1,1 and 10 µg/kg; relative standard deviations of the method were lower than 11%. The limit of detection and the limit of quantification of dimethyl yellow were 0.1 µg/kg and 0.3 µg/kg, respectively; the limit of detection and the limit of quantification of diethyl yellow were 0.05 µg/kg and 0.1 µg/kg, respectively. This method can be used in rapid screening and quantitative analysis of dimethyl yellow and diethyl yellow in yuba and dried beancurd.