Download Fragrance Analysis In Cleaning Products By GC/MS Irene Tan Sok

Fragrance Analysis In Cleaning Products By GC/MS
Irene Tan Sok Hwee, Chia Poh Ling, Lim Chin Chin and Dr Michael Tay Ming Kiong,
Purpose of research
Detergents and household cleaning products in powder and liquid forms are sometimes
encountered as anthrax hoax simulants or adulterants in soups and drinks. Cleaning products
include a wide variety of laundry detergents, fabric softeners, dishwashing liquids, handwash
liquids and household cleansers. The current method for the detection of detergents involves
the class identification of anionic, cationic and/or non-ionic surfactants using chemical tests.
Cleaning products are seldom single chemical entities. Generally, they are mixtures
containing tens to even hundreds of active components, especially for higher ethoxylated nonionic formulations. Manufacturers often add fragrances to the formulations of cleaning
products to give the consumer a feeling of well-being and freshness, and to mask undesirable
odors of other chemical ingredients in a product. Fragrances are usually complex mixtures
containing organic compounds such as alcohols, esters, terpenes, diterpenes, sesquiterpenoids,
etc. The aim of this project is to evaluate the usefulness of profiling fragrance constituents in
cleaning products as well as in water extracts containing cleaning products, in order to
determine subclass characteristics and link questioned samples to a particular suspected brand
or formulation of cleaning products.
The most common technique for analyzing fragrances is gas chromatography coupled with
mass spectrometry (GC/MS). GC/MS is the method of choice for the efficient separation and
identification of trace amounts of volatile organic compounds found in fragrance blends and
other additives.
Problems to be solved
Fragrance compounds encompass a variety of organic components such as aldehydes,
terpenes, alcohols and esters. These compounds exhibit significant variations in molecular
size, polarity and chemical interactions. Since cleaning products are often encountered in the
adulteration of food and drinks, an efficient extraction technique for the fragrance components
of cleaning products from complex food matrices needs to be developed. In this project, we
evaluated solvents of different polarities for the extraction of fragrance components used in
cleaning products. In addition, the use of passive carbon strip absorption followed by solvent
elution was studied and compared to the direct liquid extraction technique. The detection
limits of these fragrance components in water extracts containing cleaning products were also
studied.
Research methods/materials
Thirteen common household cleaning products were studied. Five different solvents,
namely carbon disulfide, dichloromethane, diethyl ether, ethyl acetate and methanol were used
for the extraction of organic components from small quantities of powder and liquid cleaning
products. Static headspace adsorption was performed using activated carbon strips. A
Shimadzu GC-17A gas chromatograph fitted with a DB-5ms (30m ´ 0.25mm ´ 0.25mm)
column and coupled to a QP5050A quadrupole mass spectrometer was used for analysis of the
extracts.
Results and Discussions
Preliminary studies showed that dichloromethane was the best solvent for the extraction of
fragrance components from cleaning products. Laundry detergents of the same brand but
different formulations (granular and liquid forms) were found to have different
chromatographic profiles. In addition, all the cleaning products studied were found to be
different in composition and/or chromatographic profile. The advantages and limitation of
passive headspace carbon strip adsorption technique compared to liquid-liquid extraction
would be further discussed in the paper. The detection limit of these fragrant components in
water extracts containing cleaning products would also be further discussed in the paper.
Conclusion
The extraction and GC/MS identification of fragrance compounds in cleaning products is a
powerful technique for discriminating different cleaning products and formulations. The
method is sensitive and allows trace amounts of characteristic fragrance compounds to be
recovered from food and drinks matrices, and subsequently identified and linked to specific
cleaning products or formulations.
Forensic Science Symposium, Taipei 2005, Poster Presentation