Simultaneous determination of aspartame, cyclamate, saccharin and acesulfame-K in soft drinks and tabletop sweetener formulations by capillary electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection ((CD)-D-4) was used for simple, rapid, and simultaneous determination of aspartame, cyclamate, saccharin and acesulfame-K in commercial samples of soft drinks and tabletop sweetener formulations. A buffer solution containing 100 mmol L-1 tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (IRIS) and 10 mmol L-1 histidine (His) was used as background electrolyte (BGE). A complete separation of the analytes could be attained in less than 6 min. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were considered better than those usually obtained by CE with photometric detection. Recoveries ranging from 94% to 108% were obtained for samples spiked with standard solutions of the sweeteners. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for the analysis of the samples with the CE-(CD)-D-4 method varied in the range of 1.5%-6.5%. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.