Separation and determination of monascus yellow pigments for food by micellar electrokinetic chromatography

Capillary electrophoretic methods have been developed for the analysis of Monascus yellow pigments for food additives. Monascus yellow pigments were successfully separated by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) with a 20 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate(SDS) solution containing 50 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.0, and 20% acetonitorile or a 2.0% butyl acrylate/butyl methacrylate/methacrylic acid copolymer sodium salts (BBMA) solution containing 20 mM ammonium formate buffer, pH 7.0, and 10% methanol. The xanthomonasin A was identified with the molecular mass measured by FABMS. Monascus yellow pigments were extracted from candies with solid phase extraction and analyzed by the developed technique.