The determination of tertiary dodecyl mercaptan by low thermal mass gas chromatography-dual plasma sulfur chemiluminescence detection

Abstract

Tertiary dodecyl mercaptan (TDM) is commonly used as a chain transfer agent in the manufacturing process of styrene/butadiene latex for use in carpet and paper industries. A gas chromatographic technique has been successfully developed for the measurement of TDM based on its sulfur content for material identification, trend analysis, or for the monitoring of un-reacted residual material in final products. The method employs low thermal mass gas chromatography (LTM-GC) and a dual-plasma sulfur chemiluminescence detector (DP-SCD) to attain a high degree of sensitivity and selectivity. Using the technique described, a detection limit in the range of 0.5 ppm (v/v) TDM and less than 1 min analysis time can be achieved. Response is linear over four orders of magnitude with high degree of repeatability of less than 5% RSD.