Determination of trace amounts of Brown HT as a food dye by a CPE-scanometry method

Abstract

In this study, trace amounts of Brown HT were extracted, pre-concentrated and determined by cloud point extraction-scanometry (CPE-scanometry) as a simple, fast and inexpensive method. The procedure is based on CPE of Brown HT from an aqueous solution, diluting the extracted surfactant-rich phase with ethanol to 500μL, transferring the appropriate volume to Plexiglas® cells and scanning the cells. Then, the colour of each cell was analyzed by software written in visual basic (VB 6) into red, green and blue values. Effective parameters for the extraction efficiency, such as the pH of the system, the concentration of surfactant, the equilibration temperature and equilibration time, were investigated and optimized. Under optimal conditions, the calibration curve was linear in the range of 0.06–2.60mgL−1. The detection limit of the proposed method was 0.04mgL−1. In addition, the effects of some foreign species, including cations, anions and dyes, were investigated. The method was applied successfully for the determination of Brown HT in some water samples.