IJPCBS 2019, 9(3), 138-145 Charegaonkar et al. ISSN: 2249-9504 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL, CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Available online at www.ijpcbs.com Research Article CHROMATOGRAPHIC METHOD FOR SIMULTANEOUS IDENTIFICATION OF ASPARTAME, SACCHARIN AND SU- CRALOSE IN TRADITIONAL INDIAN SWEETS SAMPLES BY HPTLC AND CHARACTERISATION BY HPTLC-MS AA. Charegaonkar* and VV. Vaidya Department of Chemistry, Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College, Matunga (East), Mumbai, Maharashtra-400 019, India. ABSTRACT The present paper reports a HPTLC-MS method for the simultaneous detection and identification of the artificial sweeteners aspartame, saccharin and sucralose in two Indian sweet foodstuffs viz. ‘kesar pedha’ and ‘yellow mawa barfi’. HPTLC method for identification has been developed using Silica gel 60 F254 HPTLC plates, with optimised mobile phase i.e. chloroform: methanol: water: acetic acid 64:50:10:0.1 v/v/v/v in Automatic Development Chamber (ADC2) under controlled humidity of about 33% using MgCl2 saturated salt solution. HPTLC in combination with MS was used for routine analysis of aspartame, saccharin and sucralose which are added as artificial sweetner to traditional Indian sweet products. TLC-MS analysis confirmed the presence of Aspartame (294 g/mol), Sucralose (397.64 g/mol) and saccharin (182 g/mol) in the test samples of yellow mawa barfi and kesar pedha. Keywords: Food additives, aspartame, saccharin, sucralose and HPTLC-MS. INTRODUCTION Aspartame is a dipeptide methyl ester of L- Artificial sweeteners are used to impart a sweet aspartyl-L-phenylalanine. Aspartame is about taste to foodstuffs. These sweeteners are helpful 200 times sweeter than sucrose. It is a white in controlling body weight and insulin levels as crystalline, odorless intensively sweet powder they provide no or little calories. Sweeteners may which has the molecular formula C14H18N2O5 be used separately or in combination with other along with the molar mass 294.31 g/mol7. sweeteners. Because different sweeteners can The FSSAI manual of ‘Food additives 2016 rec- elicit different sweet taste quality, 2 or 3 different ommends the use of traditional thin layer chro- artificial sweeteners are added in one type of matography for the qualitative determination of food simultaneously to produce a good sweet aspartame for dry beverage powders8. taste. Since the sweeteners may be used illegally Saccharin, a petroleum derivative is a white or used more than the legal content limits, a crystalline artificial sweetener that is about 300 simple, sensitive, and reliable simultaneous to 500 times sweeter than sucrose. Saccharin is determination of these sweeteners is required 1. not readily soluble in water, but its commer- Various methods based on different principles cially available sodium salt is freely soluble in have been reported for the simultaneous water. Saccharin is highly stable under food determination of the sweeteners2,3, 4. processing and storage conditions. It can with- The use of artificial sweeteners like saccharin, stand heating, baking and acid media. At very acesulfame-k, aspartame and sucralose has been low pH however, saccharin is hydrolysed into permitted in halwa, khoya barfi, rasogulla, 2-sulfobenzoic and 2-sulfamoylbenzoic acids. gulabjamun and other milk products5,6. It is one of the most studied food ingredients and the foundation of many low-calorie and 138 IJPCBS 2019, 9(3), 138-145 Charegaonkar et al. ISSN: 2249-9504 sugar-free products around the MATERIAL AND METHODS world 9, 10. CHEMICALS AND REAGENTS The FSSAI manual of ‘Food additives 2016 rec- Methanol, acetic acid, water, chloroform, zinc ommends the use of traditional thin layer chro- sulphate, potassium ferrocyanide, isopropanol, matography for the qualitative determination of ninhydrin, diphenylamine, acetone, saccharin8. orthophosphoric acid (Merck) were used. All the Sucralose is a chlorinated carbohydrate non- organic solvents used in the study were of nutritive sweetener of food and beverage prod- analytical grade. ucts. It is thermally stable and about 600 times sweeter than sucrose and can be used during INSTRUMENTATION cooking and baking. Sucralose is readily soluble High performance thin layer chromatography in ethanol, methanol and water and this solubili- system (CAMAG, Muttenz, Switzerland) ty profile contributes to its versatility in both consisted of Linomat V, TLC Visualizer I, fat- and water-based food and beverage applica- CAMAG Automatic Development Chamber (ADC tions including alcoholic drinks11,12,13. 2) and TLC Scanner 4 attached to a PC running Among the wide choice of chromatographic visionCATS software (version 2.5) were used in techniques, HPTLC is a simple, fast and accurate analysis. technique for use, making it advantageous over others for quick assessment of a number of Combination Standard solution preparation samples simultaneously14. Rapid and reliable Aspartame, saccharin and sucralose standard High-Performance Thin Layer Chromatographic were weighed to 1mg/mL each and volume was method has been developed to detect and iden- made up to 10 mL with water. Combination tify the artificial sweetener aspartame, saccha- working standard of 0.1mg/mL was used for rin and sucralose from the sample extracts. As analysis. complex extraction method causes delays in analysis and may lead to improper results, a Sample preparation simple and rapid extraction method has been A. yellow mawa barfi, kesar pedha samples were developed. collected from different localities of Mulund East, The combination of TLC and MS provides a Mumbai. Each respective sample was weighed means to characterize the chemical compounds and macerated to 1 g with addition of 10.5 mL after their chromatographic development. Mass distilled water and 2.5mL petroleum ether and spectrometry (MS) is one of the most practical 1mL Carrez solution I and II each. This solution techniques for characterizing chemical and bio- was cold sonicated for 10 minutes and chemical compounds. By measuring the mass- centrifuged at 2500 rpm for 15 minutes. After to-charge (m/z) ratios of ions, it allows elucidat- centrifugation second last layer i.e. aqueous ing the chemical structures of molecules in layer was collected and directly used for terms of the species formed through fragmenta- application. tion in the ion source or mass analyser15. A mass spectrometric detector can be off-line Sample clarification solutions coupled with the thin-layer chromatographic A. Carrez Solution I (Clarification solu- plate by means of the TLC–MS interface. Thus, tion): Potassium ferrocyanide weighing HPTLC has an additional analytical dimension 3.6 g was dissolved in 100 mL water. which enhances its performance, thus becoming B. Carrez solution II (Clarification solu- an even more flexible and better performing tion): Zinc sulphate weighing 7.2 g was separation and identification tool than before. dissolved in 100 mL water. It possesses the necessary flexibility for combining various complementary detection Post derivatization reagent preparation: modes such as mass spectrometry (MS), which A. Ninhydrin reagent has proven to be useful to identify such additives Ninhydrin (2,2-dihydroxyindene-1,3- in food stuffs 16,17 . dione) weighing 0.6g was placed in a In the present research paper HPTLC method glass bottle and dissolved in 190 mL of has been developed for the simultaneous de- isopropanol and 10mL of concentrated termination of aspartame, saccharin and su- acetic acid. cralose in traditional Indian sweet preparations like yellow mawa barfi and kesar pedha and B. Aniline diphenylamine orthophos- HPTLC-MS analysis was carried out to confirm phoric acid the presence of these sweeteners in those sweet Weigh 1gm diphenylamine and add products used for the present study. 1mL aniline in 80 mL methanol with addition of 10mL orthophosphoric acid. Make up to 100mL with methanol. 139 IJPCBS 2019, 9(3), 138-145 Charegaonkar et al. ISSN: 2249-9504 CHROMATOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS solvent flow through the layer and extracts the TLC plate (20 × 10 cm; 0.2 mm thick coated zone. After each sample extraction cleaning with silica gel 60 F254) having 15 tracks of process was run to avoid carryover. After elution samples and standards were used under the eluate was directly transferred to the mass following conditions: band width 8 mm, track spectrometer for further offline analysis. The distance 11.4 mm, sample application with 8 TLC-MS conditions were set after optimization mm from lower edge and 20 mm from left and which are as follows right edge of the plate sprayed using Linomat V Mobile phase: Water: Methanol (40:60) v/v with 100 μl syringe. Applied plates were Flow rate: 0.3mL per minute , developed to a distance of 70mm in Automatic Mass Spectrophotometer- (Shimadzu Single Development Chamber (ADC 2) with 33% quadrupole 2020), LC pump with low pressure humidity control by using MgCl2 saturated salt gradient in ESI-APCI mode. Analysis was carried solution. The mobile phase optimized was out in negative polarity with 0 threshold value. chloroform: methanol: water: acetic acid m/z range was from 50 to 500. Software used 64:50:10:0.1 v/v/v/v. Saturation pad was used was LabSolutions LCMS. and saturation was done for 20 minutes. Two such plates were developed with above RESULTS AND DISCUSSION mentioned parameters as sucralose and Method development aspartame detection need different derivatizing The sample preparation procedure was reagents. The developed plates were derivatized standardized for the isolation of sweeteners with