Identification of 9 Synthetic Pigments Illegally Added to Tea Based on Online Purification Combined with Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Technology

HUANG Chaoqun; WU Juan; CHEN Hongping; QIU Ruihan; HUANG Jiabo; WANG Yi; CHEN Li; HAN Chao

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Journal of Tea Science ›› 2026, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (3) : 499-508.

Identification of 9 Synthetic Pigments Illegally Added to Tea Based on Online Purification Combined with Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Technology

HUANG Chaoqun¹, WU Juan¹, CHEN Hongping², QIU Ruihan¹, HUANG Jiabo¹, WANG Yi¹, CHEN Li¹, HAN Chao^3,*

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Abstract

A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of nine synthetic pigments illegally added to tea, such as tartrazine and sunset yellow by online purification was established. The samples were first soaked in water, then extracted with ammonia water and methanol solution, purified online by Cyclone-P column, and then determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Under optimized conditions, the nine pigments showed a good linear relationship within the mass concentration range of 0.010-1.0 μg·mL^-1, with correlation coefficients greater than 0.999. The limits of quantitation (LOQ) of nine colorants were 0.10-0.50 mg·kg^-1. The mean recoveries ranged from 71.5% to 105.9%, with the relative standard deviation of ≤8.7%. This method is simple, rapid, has good selectivity and reproducibility, high sensitivity, accurate and reliable results. It has obvious advantages for the quantitative detection of illegal added pigments to tea samples.

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liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) / online purification / tea / pigment

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HUANG Chaoqun, WU Juan, CHEN Hongping, QIU Ruihan, HUANG Jiabo, WANG Yi, CHEN Li, HAN Chao. Identification of 9 Synthetic Pigments Illegally Added to Tea Based on Online Purification Combined with Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Technology[J]. Journal of Tea Science. 2026, 46(3): 499-508

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