PRECIPITATION FLOW-INJECTION METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF SACCHARIN IN MIXTURES OF SWEETENERS

An atomic absorption spectrometric method for the determination of sod ium saccharin in commercially available mixtures of artificial sweeten ers and pharmaceuticals by continuous precipitation with silver ion in a flow manifold is proposed. The silver saccharinate precipitate form ed is retained on a filter, washed with diluted acetic acid and dissol ved in ammonia for on-line atomic absorption determination of silver, the amount of which in the precipitate is proportional to that of sacc harin in the sample. The proposed method allows the determination of s odium saccharin in the range 5-75 mu g ml(-1) with a relative standard deviation of 2.7% at a rate of ca. 20 samples h(-1). The method is ve ry selective; other sweeteners do not interfere, but chloride must be absent.