UPLC-PDAD Analysis for Simultaneous Determination of Ten Synthetic Preservatives in Foodstuff

Abstract

A novel and quick ultra performance liquid chromatography-photo diode array detector method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of ten synthetic preservatives in foodstuff. An Acquity BEH C18 column (50 × 2.1 mm i.d., 1.7 μm particle size) was used. The mobile phase consisted of a mixture of acetonitrile and 20 mM potassium dihydrogen phosphate/phosphoric acid (pH 4.29) buffer at the gradient elution program. The ten compounds behaved linearly in the 0.100–20.0 μg mL−1 concentration range, with correlation coefficient >0.999. The precision inter- and intra-day of the ten synthetic preservatives at three concentration levels were 0.11–5.75% (RSD). The recoveries at three different concentrations were 88.7–99.0%, with coefficients of variation <6.3%. The method was applied to the determination of preservatives in cola beverages, fruit-flavoured carbonate beverages and fruit juice beverages, and proved its suitability for quick and reliable quality control.