Spectrophotometric determination of synthetic food dyes E102 and E110 in soft drinks using magnetic nanoparticles and chemometric algorithms

The paper proposes a new approach for the determination of synthetic food dyes (SFD) in co-presence, based on their extraction by magnetic nanoparticles, registration of reextract absorption spectra and chemometric data processing. Tartrazine (E102) and sunset yellow (E110) were determined in non-alcoholic drinks «YES! Fruit» and «Fresh Orange». Solid-phase extraction with Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles modified with polyethyleneimine was used to extract dyes from drinks. After the dyes were reextracted by an alkali solution, they were determined spectrophotometrically using the absorption spectra in the visible region. Individual detection of dyes with overlapping absorption bands was achieved applying a chemometric algorithm — projection to latent structures (PLS). To do this, a model of the dependence of absorption spectra versus the concentrations of dyes in their mixtures was preliminarily built using PLS, the optimal number of latent variables was found, and the characteristics of the model were estimated. The determination error in the test set was no more than 6 and 4% for tartrazine and sunset yellow, respectively. The content of tartrazine in the «YES! Fruit» sample was 2.19 ± 0.14 mg/L; sunset yellow — 5.2 ± 0.6 mg/L, respectively. The content of dyes in the «Fresh Orange» drink was 2.4 ± 0.2 and 8.5 ± 1.2 mg/L for tartrazine and sunset yellow, respectively. The accuracy of the determination was confirmed by the recovery test and by comparison with the results of reference method — HPLC using a gradient elution mode (acetonitrile: ammonium acetate, 0.1 mol/L). Thus, it has been shown that the combination of solid-phase extraction with magnetic nanoparticles, spectrophotometry and chemometrics provides the possibility of separate determination of SFD with overlapping absorption bands in soft drinks.

1. Bolotov V. M., Nechaev A. P., Sarafanova L. A. Food colorings: classification, properties, analysis, application. — St. Petersburg: GIORD, 2008. — 240 p. [in Russian].

2. Polyanskikh E. I., Belysheva L. L., Fedorova T. A., et al. Control procedure for synthetic dyes content in food products / Chem. Saf. Sci. 2019. Vol. 3. No. 1. P. 166 – 181 [in Russian]. DOI: 10.25514/chs.2019.1.15013

3. Brynskikh G. T., Mikheeva L. A., Terekhina N. V., Brynskikh V. E. Identification and quantification of food dyes in carbonated drinks / Ulyanovsk. Med. Biol. Zh. 2014. No. 4. P. 72 – 75 [in Russian].

4. Silaev D. V. Shestopalova N. B., Fomina Yu. A., Rusanova T. Yu. Application of chemometric algorithms for spectrophotometric determination of synthetic food colors E110 and E124 / ChemChemTech. 2022. Vol. 65. No. 2. P. 50 – 59 [in Russian]. DOI: 10.6060/ivkkt.20226502.6497

5. Bessonov V. V. Perederyaev O. I., Bogachuk M. N., Malinkin A. D. Food colors in the modern food industry — safety and control / Pisch. Prom. 2012. No. 12. P. 20 – 24 [in Russian].

6. TR CU 029/2012. Safety requirements for food additives, flavorings and technological aids (as amended on September 18, 2014). https://eacgroupcompany.com/en/regulations/trcu029-2012?ysclid=mq4zvt4lza969596932 (accessed May 27, 2026).

7. Stich E. Food color and coloring food: quality, differentiation and regulatory requirements in the European Union and the United States / R. Carle and R. M. Schweiggert, Eds. Handbook on natural pigments in food and beverages. — Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing, 2016. P. 3 – 27.

8. Zhang M., Xu T., Tian T., et al. A composite polymer of polystyrene coated with poly(4-vinylpyridine) as a sorbent for the extraction of synthetic dyes from foodstuffs / Anal. Methods. 2020. Vol. 12. No. 24. P. 3156 – 3163. DOI: 10.1039/d0ay00728e

9. Rukosueva E. A., Aliyarova G. R., Tikhomirova T. I., et al. Simultaneous determination of synthetic food dyes using a single cartridge for preconcentration / Int. J. Anal. Chem. 2020. Vol. 2020. P. 1 – 6. DOI: 10.1155/2020/2409075

10. De Andrade F. I., Florindo Guedes M. I., Pinto Vieira I. G., et al. Determination of synthetic food dyes in commercial soft drinks by TLC and ion-pair HPLC / Food Chem. 2014. Vol. 157. P. 193 – 198. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.01.100

11. Han Q., Sun Y., Shen K., et al. Rapid determination of seven synthetic dyes in casual snacks based on packed-fibers solid-phase extraction coupled with HPLC-DAD / Food Chem. 2021. Vol. 347. 129026. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129026

12. Dudkina A. A., Saranchina N. V., Volgina T. N., et al. Determination of synthetic dyes E102, E110, E124, E131 in yogurt by solid-phase spectrophotometry / Analit. Kontrol’. 2020. Vol. 24. No. 1. P. 48 – 55 [in Russian]. DOI: 10.15826/analitika.2020.24.1.002

13. Wang X., Chen N., Han Q., et al. Selective separation and determination of the synthetic colorants in beverages by magnetic solid-phase dispersion extraction based on a Fe3O4/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection / J. Sep. Sci. 2015. Vol. 38. P. 2167 – 2173. DOI: 10.1002/jssc.201500014

14. Chai W., Wang H., Zhang G., Ding Y. Preparation of polydopamine-coated magnetic nanoparticles for dispersive solid-phase extraction of water-soluble synthetic colorants in beverage samples with HPLC analysis / Talanta. 2016. Vol. 149. P. 13 – 20. DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2015.11.026

15. Arzhanukhina A. I., Andreeva K. O., Kerimova A. M., et al. Comparative adsorption of food azo dyes using magnetite nanoparticles and electrospun nanofibers / Colloid Polym. Sci. 2025. Vol. 303. P. 2361 – 2376. DOI: 10.1007/s00396-025-05492-7

16. Chen H., Deng X., Ding G., Qiao Y. The synthesis, adsorption mechanism and application of polyethyleneimine functionalized magnetic nanoparticles for the analysis of synthetic colorants in candies and beverages / Food Chem. 2019. Vol. 293. No. 1. P. 340 – 347. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2019.04.111

17. Duman S., Erbas Z., Soylak M. Ultrasound-assisted magnetic solid phase microextraction of patent blue V on magnetic multiwalled carbon nanotubes prior to its spectrophotometric determination / Microchem. J. 2020. Vol. 159. 105468. DOI: 10.1016/j.microc.2020.105468

18. Smirnova S. V., Lyskovtseva K. A., Pletnev I. V. Extraction and determination of synthetic food dyes using tetraalkylammonium based liquid-liquid extraction / Microchem. J. 2021. Vol. 162. 105833. DOI: 10.1016/j.microc.2020.105833

19. Salamat Q., Yamini Y., Moradi M., et al. Novel generation of nano-structured supramolecular solvents based on an ionic liquid as a green solvent for microextraction of some synthetic food dyes / New J. Chem. 2018. Vol. 42. No. 23. P. 19252 – 19259. DOI: 10.1039/c8nj03943g

20. Gholami Z., Marhamatizadeh M. H., Yousefinejad S., et al. Vortex-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction based on hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent for the simultaneous identification of eight synthetic dyes in jellies and drinks using HPLC-PDA / Microchem. J. 2021. Vol. 170. 106671. DOI: 10.1016/j.microc.2021.106671

21. De Souza Santos Cheibub A. M., De Lyra E. S. B., Alves B. J., et al. Development and validation of a multipurpose and multicomponent method for the simultaneous determination of six synthetic dyes in different foodstuffs by HPLC-UV-DAD / Food Chem. 2020. Vol. 323. 126811. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.126811

22. Dubenska L. O., Dmukhailo A. V., Tvorynska S. I., et al. Synthetic food dyes — some aspects of use and methods of determination / Meth. Obj. Chem. Anal. 2020. Vol. 15. No. 1. P. 5 – 20. DOI: 10.17721/moca.2020.5-20

23. Zheng C., Zheng H., Wang Y., et al. Modified magnetic chitosan microparticles as novel superior adsorbents with huge «force field» for capturing food dyes / J. Hazard. Mater. 2019. Vol. 367. P. 492 – 503. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2018.12.120

24. Silaev D. V., Shestopalova N. B., Fomina Yu. A., Rusanova T. Yu. Determination of synthetic food dyes E110 and E124 in the co-presence by Vierordt’s method and derivative spectrophotometry / Izv. Saratov. Univ. Ser. Khimiya Biol. Ékol. 2019. Vol. 19. No. 3. P. 257 – 267 [in Russian]. DOI: 10.18500/1816-9775-2019-19-3-257-267

25. Demirhan B. E., Kara H. E. S., Demirhan B. One-step green aqueous synthesis of blue light emitting copper nanoclusters for quantitative determination of food color Ponceau 4R / J. Photochem. Photobiol., A. 2021. Vol. 417. 113356. DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotochem.2021.113356

26. Bordagaray A., Garcia-Arrona R., Vidal M., Ostra M. Determination of food colorants in a wide variety of food matrices by microemulsion electrokinetic capillary chromatography. Considerations on the found concentrations and regulated consumption limits / Food Chem. 2018. Vol. 262. P. 129 – 133. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.04.086

27. Sun X. D., Wu H. L., Liu Z., et al. Rapid and sensitive detection of multi-class food additives in beverages for quality control by using HPLC-DAD and chemometrics methods / Food Anal. Methods. 2019. Vol. 12. No. 2. P. 381 – 393. DOI: 10.1007/s12161-018-1370-3

28. Vidal M., Garcia-Arrona R., Bordagaray A., et al. Simultaneous determination of color additives tartrazine and allura red in food products by digital image analysis / Talanta. 2018. Vol. 184. P. 58 – 64. DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2018.02.111

29. Christ-Ribeiro A., Maciel J. V., Bier E. M., et al. Application of electrochemical sensors in the determination of synthetic dyes in foods or beverages and their toxicological effects on human health: a review / Food Anal. Methods. 2022. Vol. 15. No. 9. P. 2394 – 2413. DOI: 10.1007/s12161-022-02282-7

30. Ni Y., Wang Y., Kokot S. Simultaneous kinetic spectrophotometric analysis of five synthetic food colorants with the aid of chemometrics / Talanta. 2009. Vol. 78. P. 432 – 441. DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2008.11.035

31. Pomerantsev A. L. Chemometrics in Excel: a tutorial. — Tomsk: Izd. TPU, 2014. — 435 p. [in Russian].

32. Kazimirova K. O., Shtykov S. N. Adsorption and preconcentration of anionic azo dyes on nanomagnetite modified with cationic polyelectrolytes / J. Anal. Chem. 2024. Vol. 79. No. 12. P. 1724 – 1732. DOI: 10.1134/s1061934824701296