METHOD DEVELOPMENT FOR ANALYSIS OF LINEAR AND BRANCHED ALKYL BENZENE SULFONATES

A new high performance liquid chromatographic method for the separation and determination of linear and branched alkyl benzene sulfonates (LAS, BAS) in water samples was developed. LAS and BAS were separated using Thermo Hypersil Sax (250 x 4.6mm, 5 mu m) anion exchange column. Isocratic elution using (40/60 v/v) acetonitrile in water as a mobile phase containing 0.05 M sodium perchlorate was used, the flow rate was 1.5 ml/min and the UV detector was set at 280 rim. Detection limits obtained were 10 ppm for LAS and 25 ppm for BAS. It was found that this method can be used for the simultaneous determination of LAS and BAS surfactants in water samples.