Trace analysis of quaternary aminoalcohols as degradation products from softeners in wastewater

The sensitive and selective determination of polyalcohols without chromophores or fluorophores in the lower ppb-level is still an analytical task of high interest, especially in the field of environmental investigations. This paper describes a cation-exchange HPLC procedure for the separation and fluorescence detection of two quaternary ammonium compounds with polyalcoholic groups (degradation products of fabric softener) after derivatization with 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate (FMOC). Detailed experiments were carried out to determine optimum reaction conditions (pH, reaction time, temperature), linear range, detection limits, and kinetics of the reaction. The HPLC separation on a cation-exchange column includes a gradient program which provides complete separation from neutral compounds also reacting with FMOC and its hydrolysis products formed during the reaction in alkaline medium. High specificity for both investigated ammonium compounds with detection limits in the range of 1 ppb could be achieved.