High temperature gas chromatography of trimethylsilyl derivatives of alcohol ethoxylates and ethoxysulfates

Abstract

Conversion of ethoxylated alcohols to trimethylsilyl derivatives and subsequent high temperature gas chromatography allowed for the determination of alkyl chain distribution, mole average degree of ethoxylation and weight percent distribution of several commercial mixtures. Repetitive derivatizations and analyses of a mixture with a vendor specified mole average degree of ethoxylation of 3.0 (Neodol 23‐3), yielded an experimental result of 2.93 ± 0.05 (n = 6). Mixtures with different alkyl chain distributions and higher degrees of ethoxylation provided similar accuracy. Extension of the method to the analysis of ethoxylated alcohol sulfate raw materials and ethoxylated alcohol sulfates in dishwashing liquids is discussed.