Analytical application of food dye Sunset Yellow for the rapid kinetic determination of traces of copper(II) by spectrophotometry

A sensitive and rapid kinetic method for trace determination of Cu(II) was developed and validated, based on its catalytic effect on the oxidation of disodium-6-hydroxy-5-[(4-sulphophenyl)azo]-2-naphtalenesulphonic acid (wide used, food colour “Sunset Yellow FCF”, E110, in text selected as SY) by hydrogen peroxide in borate buffer at pH 10.5. The reaction was monitored spectrophotometrically by measuring the decrease in the absorbance of SY at 478.4 nm. The optimum operating conditions regarding concentration of reagents, pH and temperature were established. The calibration curve was linear up to 318 ng mL−1 of Cu(II) and the limit of detection (3σ/S) is 5.0 ng mL−1, and limit of quantification (10σ/S) is 16.67 ng mL−1. The proposed kinetic procedure was successfully applied to monitoring of the concentration of Cu(II) in fruit, wine and milk samples from different areas. The results obtained by the proposed kinetic procedure were compared by those obtained by ICP-OES method, and shown good agreement. The proposed kinetic method could be used for monitoring of quality of drinks or fruit depending on Cu(II) concentration, because of its important role as nutritional element.