Analyses of preservatives by capillary electrochromatography using methacrylate ester-based monolithic columns.

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Separation Science
• Food Analysis

Background:

• Food preservatives are crucial for product shelf-life and safety.
• Capillary electrochromatography (CEC) offers high-efficiency separations.
• Developing robust CEC methods for complex matrices is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To optimize capillary electrochromatography for the separation of five common food preservatives.
• To investigate the impact of stationary phase pore size and mobile phase parameters on separation performance.
• To develop a rapid and effective analytical method for preservative determination in commercial products.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of five common food preservatives using capillary electrochromatography (CEC).
• Utilized a methacrylate ester-based monolithic capillary column.
• Investigated the effects of stationary phase pore size, mobile phase pH, and mobile phase composition (acetonitrile/phosphate buffer) on separation.

Main Results:

• Smaller pore sizes in monolithic columns significantly improved separation performance.
• Mobile phase pH had minimal impact on resolution but affected sample injection volume.
• Acetonitrile concentration in the mobile phase strongly influenced analyte retention behavior.
• Optimal separation of five preservatives was achieved in 7.0 min using a pH 3.0 mobile phase (35:65 v/v phosphate buffer:acetonitrile).

Conclusions:

• Methacrylate ester-based monolithic columns are effective for food preservative analysis via CEC.
• Optimized CEC conditions enable rapid and efficient separation and determination of preservatives.
• The developed method was successfully applied to real commercial food and beverage samples.