An improved pararosaniline hydrochloride (PRA) method for rapid and accurate determination of total and bound sulfur dioxide (SO2) in wine was established. The determination conditions for total SO2 were optimized in model wine systems. The pH of the acidified PRA reagent had a significant effect on the color and the maximum absorption wavelength (λmax) of the reaction system, with its optimum pH 0.48 and a λmax at 549 nm. The addition of ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) could effectively shield the interference of coexisting metal ions present in wine, and a novel approach to double background subtraction was confirmed to remove the matrices interference of red wine color. Under the optimum conditions, the linear range for total SO2 in wine was within 1.00–8.00 mg L−1 (R = 0.9975), with the detection and quantification limits (MDL and MQL) found as 0.02 and 0.06 mg L−1, respectively. The recovery of SO2 ranged from 85.73 % to 105.70 % with the relative standard deviations (RSD) of 0.21 % - 7.78 %, suggesting high sensitivity and accuracy of the method. Combining with the optimized Monier-Williams method, the determination of bound SO2 in wine was also achieved. Sulfite determination can be performed in wine using the rapid, accurate and sensitive method without any pretreatment, and the results were comparable with those of the standard methods.
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