Rapid Determination of Four High Yellow Dyes in Foods by HPLC-MS/MS

A method based on highperformance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS)was developed for rapid determination of the residues of four yellow industrialdyes(basic orangeⅡ,auramine O, orange acidⅡandmetal yellow) in foods. The sample were extracted by acetonitrile, and thenanalyzed in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Sample matrix-matchedcalibration was used to determine the residue contents by external standard.Basic orangeⅡand auramine O were detected with positive ion model, while orange acidⅡ, metal yellow were detected with negative ion model.The mobile phase was ultrapure water (containing 0.1% formic acid for positiveion model)-acetonitrile. Under the optimized detection conditions, the linearranges for basic orangeⅡand auramine O are 5.0—200.0μg/L, and for orange acidⅡand metal yellow are 5.0—100.0 μg/L,the linear correlation coefficients are all more than 0.999. The limits ofquantification of basic orangeⅡ,auramine O, orange acidⅡandmetal yellow are 50, 50, 75, 60 μg/kg, respectively. The recoveries of 4 dyes rangefrom 75.6% to 119.0% with relative standard deviations (RSD) of 3.1%—9.1%.This method is simple, effective, sensitive， which is suitable for the determination andconfirmation of four industrial dyes added in the foods illegally.