[Determination of alkylphenols and alkylphenol polyethoxylates in textiles by normal-phase high performance liquid...

A method for the simultaneous determination of alkylphenols (AP) and alkylphenol polyethoxylates (APnEO) (n = 2-16) in textiles was developed by normal-phase high performance liquid chromatography (NP-HPLC). The residues of AP and APnEO in the samples were extracted with methanol by Soxhlet extraction. The pretreatment conditions such as extraction solvents, extraction methods and clean-up methods were optimized. The sample was purified by an HLB solid-phase extraction column and separated on an amino column (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 microm) with hexane-isopropanol (90:10, v/v) and isopropanol-water (90:10, v/v) as mobile phases at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and determined by a fluorescence detector. AP and each APnEO oligomer were separated successfully within a reasonable time with gradient elution, which are difficult to be separated by using conventional reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The detection limit was 1.0 mg/kg for each analyte. The recoveries ranged from 90.4% to 104.1% with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranged from 0.64% to 4.21%. This method is suitable for the determination of alkylphenols and alkylphenol polyethoxylates in textiles.