A robust method for determining water-extractable alkylphenol polyethoxylates in textile products by reaction-based headspace gas chromatography.

Alkylphenol polyethoxylates (APEO), surfactants used in the production of textiles, have the potential to move from the fabric to the skin of the person wearing the clothes, posing an inherent risk of adverse health consequences. Therefore, the textile industry needs a fast, robust method for determining aqueous extractable APEO in fabrics. The currently-favored HPLC methods are limited by the presence of a mixture of analytes (due to the molecular weight distribution) and a lack of analytical standards for quantifying results. As a result, it has not been possible to reach consensus on a standard method for the determination of APEO in textiles. This paper addresses these limitations through the use of reaction-based head space-gas chromatography (HS-GC). Specifically, water is used to simulate body sweat and extract APEO. HI is then used to react the ethoxylate chains to depolymerize the chains into iodoethane that is quantified through HS-GC, providing an estimate of the average amount of APEO in the clothing. Data are presented to justify the optimal operating conditions; i.e., water extraction at 60°C for 1h and reaction with a specified amount of HI in the headspace vial at 135°C for 4h. The results show that the HS-GC method has good precision (RSD<10%) and good accuracy (recoveries from 95 to 106%) for the quantification of APEO content in textile and related materials. As such, the method should be a strong candidate to become a standard method for such determinations.