Abstract: A reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method was established to simultaneously determine six artificial sweeteners including aspartame (ASP), sodium saccharin (SA), sodium cyclamate (SC), acesulfame potassium (AK), neotame (NTM) and stevioside. The separation was carried out on a Platicil ODS (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5μm) column through gradient elution using 20 mmol/L (NH4)2SO4-acetonitrile (pH 4.4) as mobile phase. The whole separation process was completed in 30 min before diode array detection. An excellent linear relationship between peak area and sweetener concentration in the range of 0.4－120 mg/L with a correlation coefficient varying from 0.99967 to 0.99998 was observed. The recovery rates of spiked samples in the range of 4.0－10.0 mg/kg ranged from 85% to 107% with a relative standard deviation less than 3.2%. Therefore, this method is characteristics of simple operation, rapid detection and excellent purification efficiency so that it can be used for the routine analysis of these sweet additives in foods and beverages.

Key words: HPLC, artificial sweeteners, sodium saccharin (SA), sodium cyclamate (SC), acesulfame potassium (AK), aspartame (ASP), stevioside (S), neotame (NTM)