Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Extracting Tartrazine From OTC Sources?

olmpiad - 12-8-2009 at 07:23

I was wondering how one would go about extracting the dye Tartrazine from a drink mix powder that I have. The powder consists mainly of Citric and Malic acid, along with the usual sweeteners. Anyone know how I could go about extracting this?

Rich_Insane - 12-8-2009 at 09:06

Hmm, check the Merck Index entry. I'm sure that if tartrazine is soluble in any nonpolar solvent, you could do a nonpolar extraction, because most of those items should have to be water-soluble.

"Monograph number: 09072
Title: Tartrazine
CAS Registry Number: 1934-21-0
CAS Name: 4,5-Dihydro-5-oxo-1-(4-sulfophenyl)-4-[(4-sulfophenyl)azo]-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxylic acid trisodium salt
Additional Names: C.I. Acid Yellow 23; 3-carboxy-5-hydroxy-1-p-sulfophenyl-4-p-sulfophenylazopyrazole trisodium salt; 5-hydroxy-1-(p-sulfophenyl)-4-[(p-sulfophenyl)azo]pyrazole-3-carboxylic acid trisodium salt; hydrazine yellow; C.I. 19140; FD & C Yellow No. 5; C.I. Food Yellow 4
Molecular Formula: C16H9N4Na3O9S2
Molecular Weight: 534.36
Percent Composition: C 35.96%, H 1.70%, N 10.48%, Na 12.91%, O 26.95%, S 12.00%
Literature References: Prepn: US 2457823 (1949 to Ilford); Freeman et al., J. Assoc. Off. Agric. Chem. 33, 937 (1950). See also: Colour Index vol. 4 (3rd ed., 1971) p 4132.
Properties: Bright orange-yellow powder. Freely sol in water. The aq soln is not changed by HCl but becomes redder with sodium hydroxide.
Use: As a dye for wool and silks; as colorant in food, drugs and cosmetics. In biochemistry as an adsorption-elution indicator for chloride estimations." -- Merck Index 14th Edition


Perhaps NaOH converts the dye into something? It's soluble in H2O, but it does not say anything about other solvents.