Determination of aliphatic aldehydes by liquid chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection

An electrochemical detection method for short-chain saturated and unsaturated aliphatic aldehydes separated by liquid chromatography in moderately acidic medium is described. A triple-step waveform of the potentials applied to the polycrystalline platinum electrode, is proposed for sensitive detection of aliphatic aldehydes in flowing streams avoiding tedious pre- or post-column derivatization and/or cleanup procedures. The influences of the perchloric acid concentration and dissolved oxygen in the mobile phase, on the amperometric and chromatographic performance were evaluated and considered in terms of sensitivity and selectivity. Under the optimised experimental conditions (i.e., deoxygenated 50mM HClO4) the proposed analytical method allowed detection limits between 0.2 microM for acrolein and 2.5 microM for valeraldehyde. Regression analysis of calibration data indicates that responses for all investigated compounds are linear over about 2 orders of magnitude above the LOD, with correlation coefficients >0.990. The method was successfully applied to the determination of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde and acrolein in real matrices such as spiked water and red wines with good mean recoveries (81-97%).