Analysis of benzalkonium chloride and its homologs: HPLC versus HPCE

Benzalkonium chloride (BAK) is a mixture of alkylbenzyldimethylammonium chloride homologs with n-C,2H25, n-C,4H29, and n-C16H33 comprising a major portion of the alkyl groups present. An analytical method for BAK must differentiate and quantitate the homologs in the BAK mixture. Reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separates compounds based on their affinity for a nonpolar column, which is a direct correlation to the compounds' polarity. High performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE), however, separates compounds in an electric field according to their charge and size. The BAK homologs are suitable for separation by either of these methods because their polarity and sizes differ significantly. The HPLC method employed a mobile phase of 60% acetonitrile and 40% 0.1 M sodium acetate buffer pH 5 pumped at 1.0 ml min(-1), a 4.6 x 250 mm cyano column with 5 microm packing, and UV detection at 254 nm. The HPCE method utilized a run buffer of 30% acetonitrile and 70% 0.05 M sodium phosphate pH 3.06, a 50 microm x 20 cm open silica capillary, 7.5 kV electric field and UV detection at 214 nm. Both HPLC and HPCE demonstrated good linearity in the range of 0.025 to 0.8 mg ml(-1) with r2 values of approximately 0.99. The HPLC method produced good separation of the homolog peaks with a total analysis time of 25 min. HPCE run time was less than 5 min and demonstrated good separation of the three homologs. The HPLC method, however, was superior to HPCE in the areas of sensitivity and precision. The HPLC has been extensively used in the routine quantitation and qualitation of benzalkonium chloride concentrations in various products; however, long analysis times make this method inefficient. The HPCE method produced comparable results to the HPLC method but with much shorter analysis times. An HPCE analysis method, as presented here, may prove to be a much more useful and efficient method for the analysis of benzalkonium chloride and its homologs.