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Quantitation of alcohol ethoxylate surfactants in environmental samples by electrospray mass spectrometry

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Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society

Abstract

This report describes a method for obtaining the concentrations of the total and individual alcohol ethoxylate (AE) species in sewage treatment plant (STP) effluents by using electrospray liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). This is a more advantageous method for quantitative analysis of AE in environmental matrices as compared with a previous thermospray LC/MS method. This new method is more sensitive, uses less solvents, utilizes a deuterated internal standard blend [C13D27O(CH2CH2O) n H, where n varies from 0 to 21 with an average of n=9], which corresponds more closely to the AE, and it is a more robust instrumental technique. In this report, we document the results for validation of the electrospray LC/MS method by spike recovery of AE from STP effluent and influent samples.

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Correspondence to K. A. Evans.

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Evans, K.A., Dubey, S.T., Kravetz, L. et al. Quantitation of alcohol ethoxylate surfactants in environmental samples by electrospray mass spectrometry. J Amer Oil Chem Soc 74, 765–773 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-997-0216-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11746-997-0216-8

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