Determination of Dodecanol and Short‐Chained Ethoxylated Dodecanols by LC–MS/MS (with Electrospray Ionization) After Their Derivatization (with Phenyl Isocyanate)

This report describes the application of LC–MS/MS for the separation of dodecanol (C₁₂OH) and homogenous fatty alcohols ethoxylated (AE) containing a dodecyl moiety and 1–9 ethoxy groups. These ethoxylates and free alcohol were derivatized for LC–MS/MS analysis with phenyl isocyanate (PIC). The derivatives of analytes with PIC were separated using a C18 column. Gradient elution with a mixture of ethyl acetate and acetonitrile (5 mM) was employed. The described determination method is characterized by low detection limits (range from 0.005 µg L^?1 for: C₁₂OH, C₁₂EO_2–7 to 1 µg L^?1 for C₁₂EO₁) and quantification limits (range from 0.01 µg L^?1 for: C₁₂EO_5–7 to 2 µg L^?1 for C₁₂EO₁). The developed and validated method was used in combination with liquid–liquid extraction (using ethyl acetate) in order to identify and quantitatively determine the C₁₂OH and C₁₂EO_1–9 present in environmental samples collected from Warta river water in Poznan.