Natural Material Shungite as Solid-Phase Extraction Sorbent for the Extraction of Red Synthetic Dye Ponceau 4R from Tap Water, Wine, and Juice

A natural nanomaterial shungite (NMSh) was used as solid-phase extraction (SPE) absorbent and showed excellent absorption capacity for red synthetic dye. NMSh is a mixture of various carbon allotropes, which is used as an inexpensive and effective sorbent in various scientific and food research around the world. NMSh is not just amorphous carbon, but the mixture of various carbon allotropes; shungite has been categorized as a promising material for the development of nanotechnology, which is of great interest for the development of science and technology. This fact served as the basis for selecting shungite as a material to create sorbents that will be used in the preparation of samples for analysis. For the determination of the red synthetic dye Ponceau 4R in samples of wine and juice, an SPE method with NMSh packed cartridge combined with HPLC–UV detection was developed to determine Ponceau 4R in tap water, wine, and juice samples. Particle size and mass of NMSh sorbent were studied, and a comparison between activated and non-activated NMSh was made for use as a sorbent. Under optimized conditions, the extraction of analyte was 99.3% for wine and 94.3% for juice with relative standard deviations (RSD) during the day equal to 0.18% for juice and 0.15% for wine. The results showed that this method is very sensitive and effective for the determination of food dyes in very complex matrices and in a low concentration. Based on the study was developed the method to determine the dyes in alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.