Determination of Anionic Surfactants by High Performance Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry Using a Pretreatment Column to Reduce Background Noise

Abstract

There are a number of surfactant analysis method for environmental samples and cosmetics using high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). In this study, quantitative analysis method for anionic surfactants was examined by LC/MS and high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometer (LC/MS/MS). As a result of the investigation, it was confirmed that the analysis of low concentrations of anionic surfactants is difficult because of significant background, which is caused by the anionic surfactants contained in the mobile phase concentrated on the separation column due to HPLC gradient analysis. Therefore, we developed a method for the determination of anionic surfactants by LC/MS/MS using a switching valve that enables background reduction by a pretreatment column. The method provides good linearity of the calibration curve and seems to be effective in determining the anionic surfactants.