A portable solid-state potentiometric sensor based on a polymeric ion-exchanger for the assay of a controversial food colorant (sunset yellow).

Food additives are chemicals added to enhance the appearance, taste, or lifetime of food products. Authorities continuously update the lists of the allowed additives and their daily intake limits. Thus, authorities and food suppliers strictly monitor additives in food products to guarantee their safety and compliance with national laws and safety criteria. The daily intake of the food colorant sunset yellow is banned in some countries and strictly controlled in others. Herein, a chemically modified solid-state potentiometric sensor was fabricated and used for the direct, fast, sensitive and selective assay of sunset yellow in soft drink and pharmaceutical formulation samples. The study optimized the sensor composition and the optimized carbon paste included a novel polymeric ion-exchanger, dioctyl phthalate, chitosan, and calix-[8]-arene and produced a rapid and near-Nernstian response of -32.9 ± 0.821 mV per decade for sunset yellow in the concentration range 7.94 × 10-5 M to 1.0 × 10-2 M and in the pH range 5-10. The sensor revealed good selectivity toward sunset yellow in the presence of commonly encountered ionic species. The method was validated according to the International Council for Harmonization guidelines and the results were statistically comparable to those of a reported method. The solid-state sensor represents a tool for fast and direct assay of sunset yellow in food products without sample pretreatment.