Resolution of ternary mixtures of Tartrazine, Sunset yellow and Ponceau 4R by derivative spectrophotometric ratio spectrum-zero crossing method in commercial foods.

A very simple spectrophotometric method is described for resolving ternary mixtures of the food colorants Tartrazine, Sunset Yellow and Ponceau 4R by using the first derivative of the ratio spectra with measurements at zero-crossing wavelengths. Calibration graphs are linear up to 20 mg l(-1) of Tartrazine (E-102), 40 mg l(-1) of Sunset Yellow (E-110) and 32 mg l(-1) of Ponceau 4R (E-124). Standard deviations of 0.9, 0.8 and 2.4% were obtained for nine standards of 8 mg l(-1) of Tartrazine, 8 mg l(-1) of Sunset Yellow and 8 mg l(-1) of Ponceau 4R, respectively. This method was satisfactorily used for determining synthetic mixtures of these colorants in different ratios (from 1:1:1 to 1:5:5 or even higher) with recoveries in 94-105% range and it was successfully applied over three commercial products containing the three dyes and it did not require any separation step. The results were compared with those obtained by HPLC and very similar values were found by both methods.