Fast determination of seven synthetic pigments from wine and soft drinks using magnetic dispersive solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

• The effect of cross-linker used in the co-polymerization on the recovery of analytes has been studied.
• An effective M-dSPE procedure has been developed for extraction of 7 synthetic pigments.
• The NH2-LDC-MP sorbents could be efficiently regenerated and reused.
• The NH2-LDC-MP more effectively remove matrix than the PSA materials.
• A novel M-dSPE UFLC-MS/MS method for analysis of 7 synthetic pigments in wine and soft drinks has been developed.

A novel, simple and sensitive method based on the use of magnetic dispersive solid-phase extraction (M-dSPE) procedure combined with ultra-fast liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (UFLC–MS/MS) was developed to determine seven synthetic pigments (tartrazine, amaranth, carmine, sunset yellow, allura red, brilliant blue and erythrosine) in wines and soft drinks. An amino-functionalized low degrees of cross-linking magnetic polymer (NH2-LDC-MP) was synthesized via suspension polymerization, and characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The NH2-LDC-MP was used as the M-dSPE sorbent to remove the matrix from the solution, and the main factors affecting the extraction were investigated in detail. The obtained results demonstrated the higher extraction capacity of NH2-LDC-MP with recoveries between 84.0 and 116.2%. The limits of quantification (LOQs) for the seven synthetic pigments were between 1.51 and 5.0 μg/L in wines and soft drinks. The developed M-dSPE UFLC–MS/MS method had been successfully applied to the real wines and soft drinks for food-safety risk monitoring in Zhejiang Province, China. The results showed that sunset yellow was in three out of thirty soft drink samples (2.95–42.6 μg/L), and erythrosine in one out of fifteen dry red wine samples (3.22 μg/L), respectively. It was confirmed that the NH2-LDC-MP was a kind of highly effective M-dSPE materials for the pigments analyses.