Analytica Chimica Acta 562 (2006) 23–29

Headspace solid-phase microextraction applied to the simultaneous

determination of sorbic and benzoic acids in beverages
Chunzhou Dong ∗ , Wenfang Wang
Department of Sanitary Technology, Hubei College of Traditional Chinese Medicine,
Ziyang Road 275, Wuhan 430064, China
Received 10 November 2005; received in revised form 15 January 2006; accepted 16 January 2006
Available online 21 February 2006

Abstract
A new analytical procedure was developed using headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) for the simultaneous determination of
sorbic and benzoic acids in beverages. The sample were processed depending on their nature, either only diluted with water, or treated with a NaOH
solution and filtered through a 0.45-␮m membrane filter. The samples were heated in a vial in the presence of sulfuric acid and anhydrous sodium
sulfate and the analytes were collected from the headspace by using a 65-␮m polydimethylsiloxane–divinylbenzene (PDMS–DVB) coated fiber
and determined by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID). To enhance the sensitivity of HS-SPME, the temperature and
time of the extraction and desorption, the acidity and salt concentration of the extraction solution were optimized. Linear range of the analytes was
found to be between 0.1 and 20 mg/L with regression coefficients (R2 ) of 0.9998 for sorbic acid and 0.9980 for benzoic acid. Limits of detection
(LOD) were 5.83 ␮g/L and 11.4 ␮g/L for sorbic and benzoic acids, respectively. Relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) for six replicate analyses
within 3 days (two times/day) was found to be lower than 8.62% at three concentration levels (2, 6, 10 mg/L). Recoveries ranged from 81.20% to
108.1% for real samples. The results demonstrate the suitability of the HS-SPME technique to analyze sorbic and benzoic acids in a variety of
beverages.
© 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: HS-SPME; GC; Sorbic acid; Benzoic acid; Food preservatives; Beverages; Food analysis

1. Introduction (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC). Spectroscopic methods

Preservatives having antimicrobial properties are permitted
food additives in various food products to preserve them from
decay. Sorbic and benzoic acids are generally used as preserva-
tives in a great variety of foods. Benzoic acid inhibits bacterial
development. Sorbic acid is an antifungal preservative against
molds and yeasts [1,2]. However, the presence of these preser-
vatives at higher than permitted safety levels can be harmful
to human health. The maximum permitted concentrations of
preservatives in each type of food are controlled by legislation
[3]. Therefore, developing an appropriate analytical method to
separate and determine preservatives is essential.
There are various methods for the analysis of sorbic and
benzoic acids in foods, such as UV spectroscopy, thin layer chro-
matography (TLC), high performance liquid chromatography
∗ specific and accurate [11], but may require lengthy extraction,
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 27 6889 0070; fax: +86 27 6889 0071.
E-mail address: dongchzh@163.com (C. Dong).
are usually employed for the individual determination of these
compounds [4]. However, sorbic and benzoic acid preservatives
are added to foods individually or as mixtures, and their concen-
trations are up to 0.1% (by food weight), as permitted by legis-
lation. Therefore, the simultaneous and sensitive determination
of these chemicals is required. Chromatographic methods are
often used for their selective individual or joint determination.
Sorbic and benzoic acids in beverages have been determined by
thin-layer chromatography with minimal sample manipulation
[5,6]. In some countries, high-performance liquid chromatogra-
phy is the most common analytical procedure for detecting and
quantifying sorbic and benzoic acids in foods and beverages
[7–10]. Preservatives in complex samples were determined by
this technique after laborious manipulation of the sample includ-
ing filtration, extraction and evaporation prior to injection into
the chromatograph. Gas chromatographic methods are sensitive,
preparation or derivatization of the acid analytes. Even so GC

0003-2670/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.aca.2006.01.045
24 C. Dong, W. Wang / Analytica Chimica Acta 562 (2006) 23–29
methods are still preferred in some countries (such as China)
[12] for the simultaneous determination of sorbic and benzoic
acids in foods because of less facility costs than HPLC meth-
ods. The Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC)
official GC method [13] for preservatives in foods involves
several extractions, evaporation, derivatization to a trimethylsi-
lyl ester and flame ionization detection (FID). Unfortunately,
these methods were usually performed for the analysis of sor-
bic and benzoic acids in complex samples all after laborious
manipulation of the sample, such as extraction (liquid–liquid
extraction (LLE) or solid-phase extraction (SLE)) and concen-
tration. The analytical procedures are not only complex but also
laborious.
Solid-phase microextraction (SPME), improved by Pawli-
szyn and Arthur [14] in 1990, overcome the shortcomings of
LLE and SLE. Unlike other extraction techniques, SPME is
not laborious, nor does it require large quantities of expensive
toxic solvents that are harmful to the environment. In this extrac-
tion method the analytes are portioned between the fused-silica
fiber that has been coated with a polymeric stationary phase and
the aqueous sample, thus the extraction and concentration steps
during sample preparation are jointed in a single process. The
SPME technique can be used routinely in combination with GC
or HPLC. These methods using SPME technique save prepara-
tion time, solvent purchase and disposal costs, and can improve
the detection limits. But SPME techniques still have shortcom-
ings, such as incomplete collection of the analytes from the
sample and matrix influence. Even so, nowadays the SPME tech-
nique has been successfully applied for the analysis of volatile
and semi-volatile organic compounds from environmental [15],
biological [16] and food [17] samples by coupling SPME with
GC. Actually, the determination of food preservatives in food-
stuffs by SPME technique has received only limited attention.
Only a few references on the use of SPME for the determi-
nation of benzoic acid can be found [18,19], but no reference
to the application of SPME for the simultaneous determination
of sorbic and benzoic acids by GC appears to exist. However,
headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) presents a
significant advantage in terms of selectivity because only volatile
and semi-volatile organic compounds can be released into the
headspace. In HS-SPME, the fiber is not in contact with the
sample solutions, background adsorption and matrix effects can
be reduced, which also enhances the life expectancy of SPME
fibers.
The objective of the present study was to develop a facile
analytical method for the simultaneous determination of sor-
bic and benzoic acids in beverages by HS-SPME with gas
chromatography with flame ionization detector (HS-SPME-GC-
FID). The HS-SPME process was studied in detail in aqueous
solutions and important variables involving temperature and
time effect, the effect of salt content and acidity were opti-
mized. In addition, analytical characteristics such as linearity,
detection limits, precision and accuracy have been examined
for the analytes, and evaluated the HS-SPME procedure devel-
oped. The proposed method has been successfully applied to
the simultaneous determination of sorbic and benzoic acids in
beverages.
2. Experimental
2.1. Reagents and materials
Benzoic acid (GBW(E) 100006) and sorbic acid (GBW(E)
100007) were obtained from National Standard Material Center
(Beijing, China). Standard stock solution, containing sorbic and
benzoic acids at 20 mg/mL concentration in ethanol, were pre-
pared and stored in glass-stopped bottles at 4 ◦ C. The optimum
GC conditions were established by using a mixture of 3 mg/mL
of each analyte in ethanol. Standard working solutions of vari-
able concentration were prepared daily by appropriate dilution
of aliquots of the stock solution in ethanol. Ethanol was chro-
matographic grade. Sulfuric acid and anhydrous sodium sulfate
were analytical reagent grade. Sulfuric acid solutions were pre-
pared by dilution with double-distilled water.
2.2. Apparatus
The HS-SPME experiments were performed with a manual
fiber holder and fiber obtained from Supelco (Bellefonte, PA,
USA). The fiber selected for this study was coated with 65-
␮m polydimethylsiloxane–divinylbenzene (PDMS–DVB) with
bipolar.
A magnetic stirrer DF-101B (Gongyi, China) was used for
stirring and heating sample solutions during extraction.
A GC7890 system (Techcomp, Shanghai, China) equipped
with a split/splitless injector (0.75 mm I.D. glass liner, 0.5 min
splitless time) and an flame ionization detector (FID) was used.
The data acquisition system SePu3000 was purchased from
Puhucomp (Hangzhou, China).
2.3. GC conditions
The column used was an AT. FFAP (20 m × 0.32 mm I.D.,
0.5 ␮m film thickness) obtained from Lanzhou Institute of
Chemical-Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences (Lanzhou,
China). The temperature program was initial temperature 150 ◦ C
held for 1 min, 10 ◦ C/min to 200 ◦ C held for 3 min and then
at 20 ◦ C/min to 240 ◦ C held for 2 min. The injector was at
260 ◦ C. Ultrapure nitrogen (>99.999%) was used as the car-
rier gas and make-up gas. Linear velocity of the carrier gas was
47 cm/s at 150 ◦ C. The column flow-rate was 2.2 mL/min and the
flow-rate of make-up gas was 27 mL/min. Hydrocarbon traps,
oxygen traps and moisture traps, obtained from Dalian Insti-
tute of Chemical-Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences (Dalian,
China), were used in-line. The fiber was injected in the splitless
mode and the splitter was opened at delay time 0.5 min. The split
flow after the 0.5 min of splitless was 55 mL/min. The detector
temperature was 250 ◦ C. In the GC conditions, the retention
time of analytes studied were determined as their identification
for standard solutions directly injected separately into the gas
chromatograph.
2.4. Sample pretreatment
All of the samples studied were bought at a local market. The
carbonated drinks, including Pepsi Cola, 7Up and Sprite, were
 C. Dong, W. Wang / Analytica Chimica Acta 562 (2006) 23–29 25

diluted 10 times with water and degassed by ultrasonication for

5 min. Syrup of Plum and Concentrated Orange Juice (0.500 g)
were mixed with 1 mL of NaOH (1 mol/L) and the volume
brought up to 100 mL with water, mixed thoroughly, followed by
filtration through a 0.45-␮m membrane filter. Red Wine (1.0 mL)
was thoroughly mixed with 2 mL of NaOH (1 mol/L) and heated
in a water bath at 80 ◦ C for 5 min, then diluted with water to
50 mL.

2.5. HS-SPME procedure

We choose to perform the extraction of the target analytes

using the headspace mode. In this case, fiber coating is pro-
tected from damage by high-molecular mass interferences. The
headspace mode also allows for a change of pH without damag-
ing the fiber and avoids introduction of non-volatile interferences
in the chromatographic system.
Fiber conditioning was performed according to supplier’s
information. The HS-SPME were performed by placing 10 ␮l
aliquot of sorbic and benzoic acids standard solution mixture,
5 mL of 0.5 mol/L sulfuric acid and 2.5 g of anhydrous sodium
sulfate into 12-mL amber vials enclosed with butyl-rubber stop-
pers wrapped with Teflon sealing tape. The vials were immersed
in a water bath heated by the magnetic stirring unit. A ther-
mometer was used to monitor the water temperature. Magnetic
stirring with a 1 cm long PTFE coated stir bar was used to
agitate the sample solutions at about 600 rpm. The HS-SPME
process was performed by immersing the fiber in the headspace
of the aqueous solution with stirring at 50 ◦ C for 40 min, dur-
ing which analytes were sorbed into the stationary phase of the
fibers. Fig. 1. GC chromatograms of (A) sorbic and benzoic acids (100 ␮g/mL) by
direct injection (0.2 ␮l) and (B) sorbic and benzoic acids at 2 mg/L in 5 mL
After extraction, the needle on the SPME manual holder was
aqueous solutions by HS-SPME analysis.
set at its maximum length in the GC injector and, then, the fiber
was directly exposed to the hot injector at 260 ◦ C for 5 min. The Fig. 2 illustrates that an increase in extraction efficiency was
analytes were successfully desorbed from the fiber coating for observed when temperature increased from 40 ◦ C to 50 ◦ C for
analysis. A GC chromatogram of sorbic and benzoic acids by the analytes. This may be attributed that the increase of extrac-
direct injection is shown in Fig. 1A and B shows the HS-SPME- tion temperature decreases the distribution coefficient between
GC chromatogram of 5 mL of aqueous solutions spiked with analytes and water. Also, the elevated temperature significantly
10 ␮L of 1 mg/mL sorbic and benzoic acids standard mixture.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Effect of extraction temperature

The extraction temperature has two opposing effects, so there

is an optimal extraction temperature at which one can obtain
ideal adsorbed quantities and rapid equilibrium time.
In order to study the effect of temperature on the extraction
process, the study was carried out by varying the temperature
in the range from 40 ◦ C to 90 ◦ C for 40 min, and with contin-
uous stirring at 600 rpm to ensure that the extracted solutions
were perfectly agitated and to reach faster the equilibration.
The concentration of sulfuric acid in the extracted solutions was
1.0 mol/L, where 2.5 g of anhydrous sodium sulfate was added.
Fig. 2. Extraction efficiency as a function of temperature for sorbic and benzoic
After the adsorption process the analytes were thermally des- acids in 5 mL double-distilled water containing 1.0 mol/L sulphuric acid 2.5 g
orbed into the injection port of a gas chromatograph at 260 ◦ C of anhydrous sodium sulphate, extraction time, 40 min. The concentrations of
for 5 min. sorbic and benzoic acids in water were 6 mg/L.
26 C. Dong, W. Wang / Analytica Chimica Acta 562 (2006) 23–29

Fig. 4. Effect of salt in aqueous solutions, extraction temperature, 50 ◦ C; extrac-

Fig. 3. Extraction efficiency as a function of time at extraction temperature of
tion time, 40 min; concentrations and other conditions as in Fig. 2.
50 ◦ C; concentrations and other conditions as in Fig. 2.

3.4. Effect of the acidity

enhances the diffusion of the analytes from the sample solution
to gaseous phase. However, when the extraction temperature
The effect of the acidity on the extraction efficiency was stud-
exceeded 50 ◦ C, a significant decrease in sensitivity was also
ied at the concentrations of sulfuric acid of 0.01, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0,
observed for the two analytes. This is because adsorption is an
1.5, 2.0 mol/L, respectively. The relative responses with respect
exothermic process [20–22] and therefore, decreased at high
to the peak area obtained are given in Fig. 5. As can be seen in
temperature. Besides, another cause is likely to be desorption
Fig. 5, the response of the two analytes became roughly con-
of the analytes from the fiber into the headspace. A working
stant when the concentrations of sulfuric acid in the extraction
temperature of 50 ◦ C was selected for further experiments.
solutions ranged from 0.1 mol/L to 1.0 mol/L. The great acidity
range is of advantage to avoid the influence produced by sample
3.2. Effect of extraction time acidity. A medium concentration in the adoptable concentration
range corresponds to 0.5 mol/L (sulfuric acid), which was cho-
Since the extraction of analytes with HS-SPME is based on sen to ensure that the acidity of the extraction solutions does not
an equilibrium distribution process, the equilibrium time must exceed the adoptable range.
be reached for extracting the maximum amount of analyte by the
fibers. All the extractions were carried out in the range from 10
3.5. Effect of desorption temperature and time
to 60 min (as shown in Fig. 3). From the results obtained it can be
seen that extraction efficiency increased with the extraction time.
The analytes can be desorbed effectively under a high tem-
A significant decrease in extraction efficiency occurred when
perature in a shorter time, but the stability and the lifetime of
the extraction time exceeded 40 min. This is similar with the
the fiber will be affected and the analytes may be decomposed if
mentioned results of which the elevated extraction temperature
the desorption temperature is too high. Desorption temperatures
is of advantage to desorption of the analytes from the fiber into
monitored ranged from 230 ◦ C to 270 ◦ C for 5 min of desorp-
the headspace. A 40 min extraction time was chosen to carry out
the following experiments.

3.3. Effect of ionic strength

The effect of ionic strength was investigated with regard to the

extraction of sorbic and benzoic acids from aqueous solutions.
In order to evaluate the salt effect on extraction efficiency, the
amounts of anhydrous sodium sulfate added to aqueous solutions
were 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 4.0 g, respectively. Fig. 4 illustrates
the response of the two analytes in the aqueous solutions contain-
ing different amount of anhydrous sodium sulfate. As is shown
in Fig. 4, the extraction of the analytes showed the highest sen-
sitivities for 2.5 g of anhydrous sodium sulfate. The aqueous
solutions were saturated with anhydrous sodium sulfate because
a small quantity of anhydrous sodium sulfate was not dissolved.
So a 2.5 g of anhydrous sodium sulfate was selected in this Fig. 5. The acidity effect profile, 2.5 g of anhydrous sodium sulphate; concen-
study. trations and other conditions as in Fig. 4.
 C. Dong, W. Wang / Analytica Chimica Acta 562 (2006) 23–29
tion time. Carryover or memory effect is a problem frequently
encountered when using the SPME method to analyze an organic
compound. A re-desorption performed at 260 ◦ C for 5 min after
the initial desorption run was used to determine whether the
analytes remain on the fiber. The tested results showed the
amount of all analytes desorbed is of no noteworthy difference
in range from 250 ◦ C to 270 ◦ C, but carryover was observed on
re-desorption when the desorption temperatures were less than
260 ◦ C for benzoic acid and less than 250 ◦ C for sorbic acid.
Desorption temperature of 260 ◦ C was chosen for the following
experiments.
Desorption time were investigated for 10, 30, 60, 120, 300
and 600 s, respectively, by leaving the fiber in the injector for a
progressively longer period of time and maintaining the injec-
tor temperature at 260 ◦ C. The analytes desorbed increased with
desorption time and reach a maximum after 1 min, Also a re-
dessorption was carried out at 260 ◦ C for 5 min after the initial
desorption run. No carryover was observed on re-desorption only
when desorption time was greater than or equal to 2 min. Accord-
ing to those results, in order to ensure complete desorption and
avoid possible carryover, desorption time of 5 min was chosen
for subsequent analysis.
3.6. Linearity and precision
Standard curves were constructed spiking 5 mL aqueous solu-
tions with the two analytes mix. A series of aqueous solutions in
concentrations ranging between 0.02 and 20 mg/L for the ana-
lytes were extracted and analysed using GC-FID. The HS-SPME
procedure showed a good linear behavior in range from 0.1 to
20 mg/L, correlation coefficients (R2 ) are 0.9998 for sorbic acid
and 0.9980 for benzoic acid. Linear regression equations are
y = 134,879x − 3690 for sorbic acid and y = 81,319x − 512 for
benzoic acid, where y is peak area, x is the concentrations of the
analytes.
The precision was determined by six replicate analyses within
3 days (two times /day) for two analytes at three concentration
levels (2, 6 and 10 mg/L) in aqueous solutions. Intra- and inter-
day percent relative standard deviations (R.S.D.%) for the two
analytes are given in Table 1. As can be seen, intra-day R.S.D.%
for two analytes ranged from 1.590% to 6.835% and 0.671% to
2.551% at low concentration level (2 mg/L) and high concentra-
Table 1
Intra- and inter-day R.S.D. for preservatives added to aqueous solutions at three concentration levels
Concentration (mg/L) Intra-day R.S.D.% (n = 2), 3 days
Sorbic acid
2 6.835
1.590
3.424
6 4.935
2.365
5.924
10 0.671
2.363
0.719
27
tion level (10 mg/L), respectively. Inter-day R.S.D.% was less
than 5% at 10 mg/L and less than 9% at 2 and 6 mg/L for two
analytes.
Theoretical LOD was determined taking into account the
usual definition: the concentration that originated, for each ana-
lyte, a signal equal to three times the background noise signal
was considered the LOD. The LODs are 5.83 ␮g/L for sorbic
acid and 11.4 ␮g/L for benzoic acid.
3.7. Samples analysis
The maximum permitted concentrations of sorbic and ben-
zoic acids in carbonated drinks is 0.2 g/L in China. After the car-
bonated drinks were diluted 10 times with water and re-diluted
one time with 1.0 mol/L H2 SO4 (actually diluted 20 times),
0.2 g/L is changed into 10 mg/L, which corresponds to middle
concentration of the linear range concentrations (0.1–20 mg/L).
So 10 times dilution with water was chosen as pretreatment of
carbonated drinks.
Red Wine was diluted 20, 50 times with water, respectively,
the recoveries of addition standard for the analytes were less
than or equal to 69.00%. In the chromatograms of these stud-
ies, there were many miscellaneous peaks. These indicated that
the volatile interferents and the analytes in red wine competed
with each other to be sorbed to the fiber so that a decrease in
extraction yield of the analytes occurred. Placed 1.0 mL of red
wine together with 2.0 mL of 1 mol/L NaOH, mixed and heated
in a water bath at 80 ◦ C for 5 min to remove from the volatile
interferents, then diluted with water to 50 mL. The recoveries of
the analytes were greater than 82.2%.
Concentrated fruit juice, taking example for Concentrated
Orange Juice of 0.500 g, was diluted to 100 mL with water,
mixed thoroughly, filtrated through a 0.45 ␮m membrance filter.
The resulting sample solution was analyzed by HS-SPME-GC
and the recoveries for sorbic and benzoic acids were 62.99% and
64.75%, respectively. This may be like because sorbic and ben-
zoic acids are sparingly dissolvable in acidic aqueous solutions
and were sorbed on the solids in acidic concentrated fruit juices,
therefore the analytes were not easy to be released. When 0.500 g
of Concentrated Orange Juice was neutralized with 1.0 mL of
1 mol/L NaOH before being diluted to 100 mL with water, the
recoveries for sorbic and benzoic acids reached 93.38% and
Inter-day R.S.D.% (n = 6), two times per day for 3 days
Benzoic acid Sorbic acid Benzoic acd
4.442 6.75 5.74
2.643
2.433
2.031 8.62 6.22
4.054
2.311
1.430 3.35 4.72
1.925
2.551
28 C. Dong, W. Wang / Analytica Chimica Acta 562 (2006) 23–29

Table 2
The native concentrations of sorbic and benzoic acids in samples found by HS-SPME-GC analysis (n = 3)
Sample Sorbic acid Benzoic acid

Label claim Found (g/L or kg) R.S.D. (%) Label claim Found (g/L or kg) R.S.D. (%)

Carbonated drinks
Peipsi cola No NDa – No ND –
7Up No ND – Yes 0.1773 1.90
Sprite No ND – Yes 0.1254 4.11
Red Wine Yes 0.2193 1.55 No ND –
Concentrated fruit juices
Orange juice Yes 0.8356 6.72 No ND –
Syrup of plum Yes 0.7832 6.33 No 0.0459 8.10
a ND, no detection.

Table 3
Mean recoveries and R.S.D. value of sorbic and benzoic acids added to the samples (n = 3)
Sample Added (g/L or kg) Sorbic acid Benzoic acid

Result (g/L or kg) Recoveries (%) R.S.D. (%) Result (g/L or kg) Recoveries (%) R.S.D. (%)

Carbonated drinks
Peipsi cola 0.12 0.1228 102.3 1.33 0.1180 98.33 3.17
7Up 0.12 0.1249 104.1 4.76 0.1297 108.1 2.80
Sprite 0.12 0.1136 94.68 2.51 0.1198 99.85 3.88
Red wine 0.20 0.1624 81.20 0.800 0.1633 81.65 4.70
Concentrated fruit juices
Orange juice 0.40 0.3735 93.38 5.11 0.3560 89.00 7.50
Syrup of plum 0.80 0.7092 88.65 6.00 0.7133 89.16 4.86

89.00%, respectively. Hereby, Syrup of Plum was pretreated in
the same way.
The samples analyzed, including three carbonated drinks, two
concentrated fruit juices and red wine, were prepared into sample
solutions as mentioned before individually. 2.5 mL of the sample
solutions and 2.5 mL of 1.0 mol/L sulfuric acid were placed into
12-ml amber vials, and analyzed for triplicate analyses using
HS-SPME-GC-FID. The native concentrations of the analytes
found from the samples are shown in Table 2.
Recovery tests based on the addition of known amounts of
the analytes to the samples detected were performed. The found
concentrations of the analytes were calculated from the lin-
ear regression equations of the standard curves going through
the HS-SPME-GC-FID process. The result shown in Table 3
indicated the net concentration found, where net concentra-
tion = apparent concentration − native concentration. Then the
results were compared with the addition amounts of standard
analytes. The recoveries obtained were collected in Table 3,
which showed that the mean recoveries (n = 3) ranged between
81.2% and 108.1%.
results were obtained by the HS-SPME technique in the acidity
range from 0.1 mol/L to 1.0 mol/L sulfuric acid with saturation
with anhydrous sodium sulfate of the analytes solution. The lin-
earity of the method is very good in the concentration range
from 0.1 mg/L to 20 mg/L for the two analytes. The LODs are
low enough for the purposes of monitoring the preservatives in
beverages diluted greater than 20 times. The R.S.D.s for the ana-
lytes at 2, 6 and 10 mg/L are all less than 9%. The HS-SPME
step also offers a solvent less extraction procedure and much
less labor intensity than the conventional extraction techniques.
The results tested showed that the proposed analytical method
is reliable for the determination of sorbic and benzoic acid in
beverages.
Acknowledgment
Financial support from Hubei College of Traditional Chinese
Medicine is gratefully acknowledged.
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