Development and validation of a method for the determination of EDTA in non-alcoholic drinks by HPLC

A method for quantification of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) in commercially available non-alcoholic drinks was developed and validated. The chromatographic separation was performed on an RP C18 column, and the mobile phase consisted in a mixture of 0.01 m ammonium phosphate monobasic: acetonitrile: 40% tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (90:10:0.2) pH 2.42 and a UV detector operated at 257 nm. The validation of the method demonstrated that it is able to determine EDTA in non-alcoholic drinks in an efficient and accurate manner, with a detection limit of 0.6 mg/L, quantification limit of 2.0 mg/L, precision (relative standard deviation (RSD)) 4.4, accuracy (as percentage of recovery) of 92.5%, and a linear response between 1 and 20 mg/L. As an application of the proposed method, the level of EDTA in 18 samples was determined. The samples consisted in carbonated and non-carbonated non-alcoholic drinks, either ready-to-drink or in powdered form.