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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Extraction and Characterization of Surfactants from Atmospheric Aerosols
Published on: April 21, 2017
Derivatization of fatty alcohol ethoxylate non-ionic surfactants using 2-sulfobenzoic anhydride for characterization
Chengli Zu1, Herbert N Praay, Bruce M Bell
1Analytical Sciences, The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, MI 48667, USA. czu@dow.com
Abstract:
A derivatization procedure has been developed for the improved characterization of fatty alcohol ethoxylate non-ionic surfactants by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. The end hydroxyl group of each surfactant species was converted into an oxycarbonylbenzene-2-sulfonic acid group with 2-sulfobenzoic anhydride under mild conditions. The produced sulfonic acid group allows all species, including fatty alcohols and those with less than three ethoxylates, to be uniformly ionized by electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry. Both acid and base can be used as a mobile phase additive for liquid chromatography without affecting M(n) and average ethoxylate values, although ion intensities are suppressed during the ESI process. The method was used to analyze seven commercial fatty alcohol ethoxylate non-ionic surfactants, and the determined M(n) and EO values were comparable with the results obtained by NMR. The relative ratio of different fatty alcohol based ethoxylates in a sample can also be determined using the summed mass spectral data.
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