Separation and simultaneous determination of four artificial sweeteners in food and beverages by ion chromatography

In this paper, the separation and determination of four artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sodium cyclamate, acesulfame-K and sodium saccharin) by ion chromatography coupled with suppressed conductivity detector is reported. The four artificial sweeteners were separated using KOH eluent generator. Due to the use of eluent generator, very low conductance background conductivity can be obtained and sensitivity of sweeteners has been greatly improved. Under the experimental condition, several inorganic anions, such as F−, Cl−, NO3−, NO2−, Br−, SO42−, PO43− and some organic acid such as formate, acetate, benzoate, and citrate did not interfere with the determination. With this method, good linear relationship, sensitivity and reproducibility were obtained. Detection limits of aspartame, sodium cyclamate, acesulfame-K, sodium saccharin were 0.87, 0.032, 0.019, 0.045 mg/L, respectively. Rate of recovery were between 98.23 and 105.42%, 99.48 and 103.57%, 97.96 and 103.23%, 98.46 and 102.40%, respectively. The method has successfully applied to the determination of the four sweeteners in drinks and preserved fruits.