[Fast separation and identification of nine carcinogenic dyes in textiles using liquid chromatography-electrospray...

A qualitative method of the identification of nine carcinogenic dyes prohibited in textiles was developed using high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry interfaced with electro-spray ionization (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) in the selective reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The dyes were extracted from textiles composed of natural or chemical fibers by methanol under ultrasounication, and then eluted with gradient by acetonitrile and 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate from an RP-C18 column with two segments in effluents. The first effluents accommodated Acid Red 26, Direct Blue 6, Direct Black 38 and Direct Red 28 with negative ionization mode, while the second accommodated Basic Red 9, Basic Violet 14, Disperse Blue 1, Disperse Orange 11 and Disperse Yellow 3 with positive ionization mode. Thus the investigated compounds could be identified simultaneously with single-run analysis no matter which type of the fibre the sample was and no matter which category of the dye the analyte was. The established method was successfully applied to identify the carcinogenic dyes in textile samples through comparing the chromatographic retention time and the relative abundance of characteristic product ions with the standards.