Identification and quantitative determination of priority nonionic and amphoteric surfactants in raw materials and detergent compositions by high-performance liquid chromatography, thin-layer chromatography, and UV spectrometry

A procedure was developed for the group and individual identification of five priority nonionic surfactants and one amphoteric surfactant in raw materials and finished detergents with the use of UV spectrometry, thin-layer chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode array and refractometric detectors, and solid-phase extraction on an ion-exchange sorbent. A procedure was developed for the determination of these surfactants. The effect of the composition of the organic part of the mobile phase in reversed-phase HPLC on the C-18 sorbent with refractometric detection was examined. It was demonstrated that the use of a three-component acetonitrile-methanol-water mobile phase improved the selectivity of the separation of surfactants in comparison with binary acetonitrile-water and methanol-water mixtures.