Universal LC method for a determination of fourteen cationic surfactants widely used in surfactant industry

Abstract

This work presents a universal and simple LC method with evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD), for a determination of fourteen widely used cationic surfactants in industry (DDTM, DDBA, TDTM, TDBA, MTOA, THA, HDTM, ODTM, TOA, DLDM, DMDM, DPDM, IM and DSDM). The LC system employs a reverse phase LC method utilizing a single J'sphere ODS (250 x 4.6 mm, 4 μm) column and a methanol-water containing 0.15% TFA eluent system. The ELSD responds to all the surfactants of interest; the linear working ranges in the log-log plots are 2-2800 μg mL-1 with precision less than 5%, and the detection limits are in the concentration range of 1.5-7.5 μg mL-1. The application of the analytical procedure to two household products without pretreatment indicates that the presented chromatographic method would be universal and simple in the analysis of cationic surfactants in commercial products.