Analysis of neutral nitromusks in incenses by capillary electrophoresis in organic solvents and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
Nitromusks used as fragrances in a variety of personal-care products, cleansers, and domestic deodorants, including incense sticks, are neutral nitro aromatic compounds; some of these have been reported as photosensitizers. In this work, their analysis was performed by capillary electrophoresis (CE) in a methanol-based background electrolyte (BGE). In particular, a 10 mM solution of citric acid in methanol was used; under these conditions the strong suppression of the electroosmotic flow favored the use of negatively charged surfactants as additives for the anodic migration of the studied analytes. To this end, sodium taurodeoxycholate (TDC) was supplemented at high concentration (190 mM) to the organic background electrolyte (BGE), showing strong indication of the ability to give micelle-like aggregates. Since nitromusks are characterized by the presence of a nitroaromatic ring with low charge density, their association with TDC aggregates can be ascribed to donor-acceptor interactions. Separation of musk xylene, musk ketone, and the banned musk moskene and musk ambrette was obtained under full nonaqueous BGE; the addition of relatively small water percentages (15% v/v) was found to be useful in improving the separation of pairs of adjacent peaks. Under optimized conditions (190 mM sodium TDC in methanol-water, 85-15 v/v containing citric acid 10 mM) the system was applied to the analysis of nitromusks in incense sticks extracted with methanol. The results were compared with those obtained by the analysis of the same samples using gas chromatography with mass detector. The expected different selectivity of separation obtained using the two techniques can be useful in the unambiguous determination of the analytes; furthermore, a substantial accord of the preliminary quantitative results achieved with the two methods was assumed as the confirmation of the potential reliability of CE performed with high percentage of organic solvent.
Gotti
Roberto
R
Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy. roberto.gotti@unibo.it
Fiori
Jessica
J
Mancini
Francesca
F
Cavrini
Vanni
V
D002138:Calibration; D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary / Q000379:methods*; D005229:Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated / Q000032:analysis*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry*; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry
D005229:Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D012997:Solvents; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; C008563:musk