Studies on the Preservative (II)

Dehydroacetic acid (DHA) in foodstuffs has been determined by colorimetry with salicylaldehyde. But this reaction was interfered with levurinic acid and pyruvic acid.It has been already known that titanic chloride (TiCl3) is used as chromogenic reagent of DHA in paper chromatography.The present report deals with the application of this color reaction to quantitative determination of DHA in foodstuffs.Aqueous sohition containing 0.1-1.0mg of DHA was transfered into a 10ml flask added 1ml of 1% TiCl3-hydrochloric acid solution, and diluted to the mark with water, and the resulting solution was mixed thoroughly. The absorbance of reaction mixture was determined at 390mμ.