Browsing by Subject "azo compounds"

The literature review deals with dyes in particular azo compounds and their chemistry, which are banned or permitted for the use in foodstuff. The literature review also deals with the analytical methods used for the determination of dyes in foodstuff. The main focus is on liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. The aim of the experimental work was to develop and validate an UHPLC-MS/MS meth-od for the Finnish Customs laboratory for the simultaneous determination of multiple dyes in spices. The method included 37 different dyes that are either banned or permit-ted in foodstuff. The LC-MS/MS method development started by determining the pre-cursor ion as well as tree most abundant product ions for individual dyes. The next step was to optimize the liquid chromatographic method. This was carried out by running a standard mixture that included all of the dyes. The method for the extraction of dyes with acetonitrile in spices was developed so that it would be fast, easy and the maximum number of dyes would be extracted. Finally, the method was validated. The mass spectrometric method was developed for 37 dyes. Retention times were found for 35 of these dyes. The final runtime was 33 minutes. The extraction with acetonitrile was proven to work for 29 dyes. For the rest of the dyes, the extraction could be carried out with a different method. Only two of the colorants could not be extracted with the tested methods with the applied concentrations. For most of the dyes, the LOQs were 0,05-0,5 mg/kg. The method was repeatable concerning most of the dyes.