Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of benzoic acid, sorbic acid, and ascorbic acid using a net analyte signal-based method.

The net analyte preprocessing/classical least-squares (NAP/CLS) method is a simple chemometric method that has been used for the simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of benzoic acid, sorbic acid, and ascorbic acid. The obtained results indicated that the performances of the NAP/CLS and partial least-squares methods were almost identical. The net analyte signal (NAS) concept was also used to calculate multivariate analytical figures of merit, such as LOD, selectivity, and sensitivity. Wavelength selection was applied based on the concept of NAS regression, and improved the method performance in samples containing nonmodeled interferences. The method afforded recoveries in the range of 98-105%. The proposed method was successfully applied to determination of the analytes in an Iranian soft drink.