Effective extraction and simultaneous determination of Sudan dyes from tomato sauce and chili-containing foods using magnetite/reduced graphene oxide nanoparticles coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography

A simple, effective, and robust magnetic solid‐phase extraction method was developed using magnetite/reduced graphene oxide nanoparticles as the adsorbent for the simultaneous determination of Sudan dyes (I, II, III, and IV) in foodstuffs. The magnetite/reduced graphene oxide nanoparticles were characterized by X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometry. The extraction parameters including extraction time, elution solution, and elution time and volume were investigated in detail. Such magnetite/reduced graphene oxide nanoparticles based magnetic solid‐phase extraction in combination with high‐performance liquid chromatography and variable wavelength detection gave the detection limits of 3–6 μg/kg for Sudan I–IV in chili sauce, tomato sauce, chili powder, and chili flake samples. The recoveries were 79.6–108% at three spiked levels with the intra‐ and inter‐day relative standard deviations of 1.2–8.6 and 4.5–9.6%, respectively. The feasibility was further performed by a comparison with commercial alumina‐N. This method is suitable for the routine analysis of Sudan dyes due to its sensitivity, simplicity, and low cost.