Determination of Main Ingredients in Safflower Yellow

OBJECTIVE To study the quality of safflower yellow preliminarily which was medicine and food of natural pigments. METHODS The content of the total safflower yellow and the hydroxy safflower yellow A in the safflower yellow were determined by UV and HPLC. RESULTS The total content of the homemade safflower yellow and the safflower yellow (E=150) sold in the market were more than 99%. The content of hydroxyl safflower yellow A extracted from homemade safflower yellow was much higher, reached 20.21%, 2-3 times of the sold. CONCLUSION The content of safflower yellow increases remarkably with increase of the colourity, and the content of hydroxy safflower yellow A varies in different samples of safflower yellow. The research sets up a base for the analysis and the control of safflower yellow quality.