Abstract: Objective: To develop an ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) method for the determination of five synthetic pigments such as tatrazine, amaranth, carmine, sunset yellow and brilliant blue in beverage. Methods: Synthetic pigments in beverage were extracted by polyamide adsorption method, separated on a Waters ACQUITY UPLCTM BEH C18 column by gradient elution using a mobile phase made up of methanol and 0.02 mol/L ammonium acetate, and detected at 254 nm and 629 nm. Results: The five synthetic pigments were separated in 5.5 min. The UPLC method exhibited excellent linearity over a range of 3－80 mg/L (r ＞ 0.9995). The detection limit, recovery rate and relative standard deviation (RSD) of this method were 0.03－0.10 mg/L, 97.4%－107.3%, and 0.22%－3.20%, respectively. Conclusion: The analytical method is simple, accurate, sensitive and suitable for the determination of pigments in beverage.

Key words: ultra performance liquid chromatography, synthetic pigment, beverage