Determination of aromatic amines at trace levels by ion interaction reagent reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Analysis of hair dyes and other water-soluble dyes

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method, making use of interaction reagents, was developed for the separation and determination of aromatic amines. Different interaction reagents were used and compared. The use of octylammonium salicyte or octylammonium orthophosphate as the interaction reagent and a reversed-phase spherical 5μm RP-18 as the stationary phase, with spectrophotometric detection at different wavelengths, gave good results. The separation of up to seven aromatic amines (the three isomers of phenylenediamine, benzylamine, 2-phenylethylamine, 3-phenylpropylamine and aniline) was obtained with sensitivity levels ranging between 50 and 100 ppb. The method was applied to the analysis of water-soluble dyes such as fabric dyes, brown and blond hair dyes, black shoe dye and black fountain-pen ink. It was possible to detect and determine 1,4-phenylenediamine in commercial hair dyes. The results indicate that very large amounts of this amine are present in these products namely 7320 ppm for brown hair and 598 ppm for blond hair.