Abstract: A solid phase extraction followed by high performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the analysis of the prohibited colorant rhodamine B in red wine. The separation of rhodamine B from wines was achieved on a Supelclean- C18 SPE column washed with 40% ethanol aqueous solution (V/V) and eluted with 80% methanol aqueous solution (V/V) prior to analysis on a high performance liquid chromatography equipped with a UV detector. The calibration curve of the method was linear over the range of 1.0 to 10.0μg/mL with a correlation coefficient of 0.9924. The recoveries for rhodamine B standard spiked in the range of 1.5 to 3.5μg/mL were between 69.67% and 75.00% with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 2.87% (n = 5). The detection limit was 0.25μg/mL. Owing to advantages of good linearity, low limit of detection, high precision and rapidity, this method is suitable for the determination of rhodamine B in red wine.

Key words: solid phase extraction, high performance liquid chromatography, rhodamine B, red wine