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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Single-throughput Complementary High-resolution Analytical Techniques for Characterizing Complex Natural Organic Matter Mixtures
Published on: January 7, 2019
Characterisation of commercially available linear alkylbenzenesulfonates by LC-SPE-NMR/MS (liquid
S Schmidt1, C Piechotta, M Godejohann
1Department of Chemistry, Humboldt-University, Brook-Taylor-Str. 2, D-12489 Berlin, Germany. sebastian.schmidt@bam.de
Abstract:
Commercially available linear alkylbenzenesulfonates (LASs) are a mixture of various homologues and isomers, leading to 20 major species. In this work we investigated the commercial product by liquid chromatography-solid phase extraction-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy-mass spectrometry (LC-SPE-NMR/MS). The commercial product was separated into 17 fractions by liquid chromatography (LC). After chromatographic separation, 5% of the flow was split to a mass spectrometer (MS) while 95% was send to post-column solid phase extraction cartridges for enrichment of the analytes (LC-SPE). After elution from the SPE-cartridges a NMR-spectrometer equipped with a cryo-probe was used for the characterisation of the different LASs species. For the first time (1)H-1D and H-H-COSY spectra for 14 LASs species out of 20 major isomers are presented, whereas the 6 remaining species are detected as mixtures in 3 (1)H-1D and H-H-COSY spectra. These data were used to correlate the chromatographic retention of the LASs isomers to the substitution pattern of the alkyl chain.
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