1P-02 PDF
Quantitative analysis of residual monomer by using SEC column and triple quadrupole mass spectrometer
Water soluble polymers have broad applications in the manufacture of paints and paper coatings, personal care products, dental fillings, and even foods. While water soluble polymers itself are relatively non-toxic, it is known that commercially available polymers contain minute residual amounts of monomers which are registered in the list of chemicals demonstrating toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. For example, acrylamide is one of the latest discovered neurotoxic and carcinogenic substances. The main use of acrylamide is as a chemical intermediate for the production of polyacrylamides. Acrylamide improves the aqueous solubility, adhesion, and cross-linking of polymers that are well known by population due to myriad types of uses in our society.
Residual monomer analysis of polymer is often utilized with HS-GC/MS and TDS-GC/MS, which is not suitable for hydrophilic monomer and polymers. Size-Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) separates molecules based on their size by filtration through a gel. This separation mode seems to be suitable to detect residual monomers in waters soluble polymers. Here, we developed a quantitative analysis method to detect residual monomer by using triple quadrupole mass spectrometer coupled with SEC column separation. This method is applicable for extract and reachable quantification analysis for food safety.