Corona charged aerosol detector non-uniform response factors of purified alcohol ethoxylated homologues using liquid chromatography.

• HLIC CAD analysis of alcohol ethoxylated surfactants. • Isolation of homologues by semipreparative separation. • Determination of response factor of homologues. • Unexpected very different response factors. Surfactants are used in various applications: cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, environmental, etc. Many of these compounds are polydisperse, and because of this intrinsic polydispersity, it is essential to have a universal detector with a uniform response to quantify them in a simple way. Indeed, Charged Aerosol Detector (CAD) was presented as a universal detector with a uniform response. Thus, in the present study, the CAD response, in a High-Performance Liquid Chromatography - CAD configuration (HPLC CAD), was evaluated using purified alcohol ethoxylated surfactants. A semi-preparative liquid chromatography step using a Hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) bare silica column (150 mm, 4.6 mm, 2.6 µm) was implemented to prepare eleven homologues of BrijC10, a nonionic surfactant. These homologues differed only by the number of ethylene oxide units. BrijC10 homologues were analyzed by HPLC CAD, using a HILIC bare silica column (150 mm, 2.1 mm, 2.6 µm) to determine the HPLC CAD response factors of purified homologues. From the calibration curves (from 100 to 500 mg.kg−1), their response factors were estimated: differences in response factors were observed and a maximum difference in response factors of 3.6 was obtained. Thus, it could be concluded that CAD hyphenated to HILIC separation did not present a uniform response for this homologue's distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]