Purification of Food Color Red No. 106 (acid red) using high-speed counter-current chromatography

High-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) has been successfully applied to the separation of the components of Food Color Red No. 106 (R-106). The separation was performed using 25 mg of the sample with a two-phase solvent system composed of n-butanol and 0.01 M trifluoroacetic acid (1:1, v/v). Analyses by thin-layer chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography and fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry confirmed that HSCCC was effective in the purification of the components of R-106. The separation gave 21 mg of a 99.9% pure main component (Acid Red) and 0.9 mg of 98.0% pure subsidiary dye which is probably a des-ethyl derivative.