Liquid chromatographic determination of quinine, hydroquinine, saccharin, and sodium benzoate in quinine beverages

A liquid chromatographic (LC) method is described for the determination of quinine, hydroquinine, sodium saccharin, and sodium benzoate in soft drinks. The method involves simple sample preparation, direct injection onto an octadecylsilane column, and elution with a methanol-acetonitrile-water-acetic acid (20 + 10 + 70 + 1) mobile phase. Eluted constituents are measured spectrophotometrically at 254 nm. The relationship between peak height and concentration was linear between 20 and 120 micrograms/mL for quinine. A relative standard deviation of 0.82% was obtained for commercial samples spiked with quinine, and the average recovery was 100.3%. The proposed procedure is accurate and rapid and can also detect hydroquinine (a natural contaminant of quinine), sodium saccharin, and sodium benzoate. Linear responses ranged from 0.45 to 20 micrograms/mL for hydroquinine, from 54.8 to 219 micrograms/mL for sodium saccharin, and from 10.1 to 145.1 micrograms/mL for sodium benzoate. The reproducibility of the LC method was evaluated with standard solutions of hydroquinine, sodium saccharin, and sodium benzoate, which produced relative standard deviations of 0.42, 0.46, and 1.13%, respectively. The average recoveries for sodium saccharin and sodium benzoate from spiked samples were 99.4 and 100.2%, respectively.