Determination of starting materials, intermediates, and subsidiary colors in the color additive Food Red No. 106 (Sulforhodamine B) using high-performance liquid chromatography

•HPLC method for determination of impurities was developed for the Food Red No. 106.•The structure of main subsidiary color in R106 was desethyl derivative.•Area% determination using HPLC was applied for the purity test of R106 by PC. The main subsidiary color of structure in Food Red No. 106 (R106) was identified to be a desethyl derivative (R106-SubA). High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was performed for the quantitative determination of benzaldehyde-2,4-disulfonic acid, N,N-diethyl-m-aminophenol, leuco acid, pyrone acid, R106-SubA, etc. in R106. An ammonium acetate solution (20mM) and acetonitrile:water (7:3) were used to stabilize the retention time of the HPLC analytes. The linearity of the calibration curves was in the range of 0.05–10μg/mL, with good correlation coefficients (R2>0.9983). The recoveries of impurities at levels 0.1%, 0.5% and 1% ranged from 94.2% to 106.6% with relative standard deviations of 0.1%–1.0%. While surveying commercial R106, the amounts obtained by area% determination were similar to those obtained by the calibration-curve determination. The area% determination by HPLC for the determinations of impurities in R106 is a simple and reliable method and can be applied in routine analysis.