ABSTRACT:
Spectrophotometric method was developed and applied for simultaneous determination of two colorants: Ponceau 4R and Brilliant black in Syrian foodstuffs. This study was applied on several Syrian foodstuffs as: Royal Jelly, Archi jelly, Columbus drink (strawberry), Columbus drink (blueberry), Aquaz drink (blueberry). Derivative spectrophotometric method (DS) was applied for the determination of Ponceau 4R and Brilliant black, respectively. Ponceau 4R was determined by first derivative spectrophotometry (1D454), and Brilliant black was determined by first derivative spectrophotometry (1D624). Linearity ranges were 3 - 40 ??g/mL for Ponceau 4R and 2 - 35 ??g/mL for Brilliant black. Regression analysis showed a good correlation coefficients R2 = 1 and R2 = 0.9999 for Ponceau 4R and Brilliant black, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were to be 0.825 ??g/mL and 2.50 ??g/mL for Ponceau 4R and 0.328 ??g/mL and 0.99 ??g/mL for Brilliant black, respectively. The proposed derivative method was successfully applied to analysis individual or mixture of Ponceau 4R and Brilliant black in foodstuffs. All studied samples showed dye levels conformity with Syrian legislation.