Rhodamine
B, a synthetic
dye, is used as a food additive to impart
color to different foodstuffs to attract buyers. The aim of this study
was to develop and validate an ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometric
method for the identification and estimation of rhodamine B in rhodamine
B-adulterated food articles. Upon reaction with HCl, rhodamine B produces
a rose-pink color, exhibiting maximum absorption at 556 nm. The linearity,
precision, and accuracy were analyzed statistically for validation.
An aliquot of rhodamine B obeyed the Beer–Lambert law between
2 and 20 μg/mL and exhibited a linear regression curve with
a correlation coefficient (R
2) of 0.9991.
The limit of detection and limit of quantification were 1.15 and 3.5
μg/g, respectively. The detection was further confirmed by performing
thin layer chromatography and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance
of the sample with the pure rhodamine B. The proposed method for the
determination and estimation of rhodamine B as a food coloring agent
in this report is accurate and precise.