Reversed-phase liquid chromatographic determination of two manufacturing intermediates in D&C Red No. 34 and its lakes.

A reversed-phase LC method was developed to determine two manufacturing intermediates in the monosulfo monoazo color additive D&C Red No. 34 and its lakes. The analytes are 2-amino-1-naphthalenesulfonic acid (Tobias acid) and 3-hydroxy-2-naphthalenecarboxylic acid (3-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid). This method can be used for batch certification of the color additives by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ensure that each lot meets published specifications for coloring drugs and cosmetics. The new method uses lithium oxalate in methanol-water to dissolve the color additives for analysis. The analytes were identified by comparison of their LC retention times and UV absorption spectra with those of standards. Peak area calibrations were generally linear (R > 0.999) and recoveries were 105% for Tobias acid and 103% for 3-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid. The limits of determination (LOD) were 0.01% for Tobias acid and 0.03% for 3-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid. The RSDs at the specification levels were 0.9% for Tobias acid and 3.2% for 3-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid. Survey analyses of 14 samples of certified D&C Red No. 34 straight colors and lakes from six domestic and foreign manufacturers yielded results for Tobias acid that generally agreed with results previously obtained by using a gravity elution column chromatographic method. Nine of the results for 3-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid were 2 to 5 times higher than the results obtained using the column chromatographic method. We attribute the lower accuracy of the column chromatographic method to incomplete solubility of the samples using the method conditions and difficulty with interpreting the UV spectrophotometric results.