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A single-line flow injection system and multiple pulse amperometric detection using a boron-doped diamond electrode were employed to develop and optimize a simple, low-cost, and rapid method for the simultaneous determination of two pairs of food colorants: tartrazine and sunset yellow (TT-SY) or brilliant blue and SY (BB-SY). A dual-potential waveform was used: E(det.1)=-150 mV (400 ms duration) and E(det.2)=-450 mV (100 ms duration) vs. Ag/AgCl (3.0 mol L(-1) KCl). Polarization at E(det.1) or E(det.2) causes reduction of SY or the respective pair of colorants, TT-SY or BB-SY; hence, with proper current correction, both colorants in each pair can be determined. The obtained linear response ranges (detection limits) were 5.0-60.0 (2.5) and 1.0-50.0 (0.80) μmol L(-1), for TT and SY, or 5.0-60.0 (3.5) and 1.0-50.0 (0.85) μmol L(-1), for BB and SY, respectively. Investigation of possible interferents (other food colorants or additives) showed no significant interference with the methods here proposed, which were then used to simultaneously determine the pairs of colorants in industrialized food samples, with results that showed good agreement with those obtained using a comparative HPLC method.

Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and a cathodically pretreated boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrode were used to simultaneously determine two pairs of synthetic food colorants commonly found mixed in food products: tartrazine (TT) and sunset yellow (SY) or brilliant blue (BB) and sunset yellow (SY). In the DPV measurements using the BDD electrode, the reduction peak potentials of TT and SY or BB and SY were separated by about 150 mV. The detection limit values obtained for the simultaneous determination of TT and SY or BB and SY were 62.7 nmol L(-1) and 13.1 nmol L(-1) or 143 nmol L(-1) and 25.6 nmol L(-1), respectively. The novel proposed voltammetric method was successfully applied in the simultaneous determination of these synthetic colorants in food products, with results similar to those obtained using a HPLC method at 95% confidence level.

A simple and highly selective electrochemical method was developed for the single or simultaneous determination of paracetamol (N-acetyl-p-aminophenol, acetaminophen) and caffeine (3,7-dihydro-1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6-dione) in aqueous media (acetate buffer, pH 4.5) on a boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrode using square wave voltammetry (SWV) or differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Using DPV with the cathodically pre-treated BDD electrode, a separation of about 550 mV between the peak oxidation potentials of paracetamol and caffeine present in binary mixtures was obtained. The calibration curves for the simultaneous determination of paracetamol and caffeine showed an excellent linear response, ranging from 5.0 × 10 −7 mol L −1 to 8.3 × 10 −5 mol L −1 for both compounds. The detection limits for the simultaneous determination of paracetamol and caffeine were 4.9 × 10 −7 mol L −1 and 3.5 × 10 −8 mol L −1 , respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied in the simultaneous determination of paracetamol and caffeine in several pharmaceutical formulations (tablets), with results similar to those obtained using a high-performance liquid chromatography method (at 95% confidence level).