Rapid and sensitive electrochemical determination of tartrazine in commercial food samples using IL/AuTiO2/GO composite modified carbon paste electrode

•The developed sensor was efficient for the sensitive detection of tartrazine.•The IL/AuTiO2/GO/CPE exhibits excellent selectivity and high reproducibility.•The proposed sensor was used for the determination of tartrazine in food samples. A novel electrochemical sensor based on the modification of carbon paste electrode with an ionic liquid (1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate) and AuTiO2/GO composite (IL/AuTiO2/GO/CPE) was developed for rapid and sensitive determination of tartrazine by differential pulse voltammetry. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the peak current was linear to concentration of tartrazine in the ranges of 1–400 µmol L−1 and 400–1000 µmol L−1, with sensitivities of 0.008 µA µmol L−1 and 0.002 µA µmol L−1, respectively, and with a limit of detection of 0.33 µmol L−1 (S/N = 3). To demonstrate the performance of the method, the reproducibility was studied and the obtained values of RSD% were 2.72%. The method was applied to the sensitive determination of tartrazine in isotonic drink, mustard and yellow egg dye samples with recovery rates between 98.55% and 103.62%.