A supramolecular solvent made up of reverse micelles of decanoic acid was proposed for the simple and rapid extraction of Sudan I, II, III and IV from chilli-containing foodstuffs. The procedure involved the extraction of minute quantities (0.5-1 g) of homogenised food sample with an aqueous solution containing 10% THF and 200 mg of decanoic acid, conditions under which the supramolecular solvent (around 330 mu L) formed in situ and instantaneously. The overall sample treatment took about 30 min and several samples could be simultaneously treated using conventional lab equipment. No clean-up or solvent evaporation were required before determination of Sudan dyes by liquid chromatography and photometric detection. Extractions were independent of salt addition (up to 1 M), the temperature (up to 60 degrees C) and the pH (below 4) rendering the method robust. The detection limits of the method were 4.2, 2.7, 6.5 and 7.4 mu g kg(-1) for Sudan I, II, III and IV, respectively. Recoveries obtained by applying this approach to the analysis of six chilli-containing sauces fortified with Sudan dyes at the mu g kg(-1) level were in the interval 86-108% with relative standard deviations between 2% and 7%. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
