Abstract

Because of their specific physical and chemical properties (e.g. amphiphilicity, solubility in polar and nonpolar liquids, ability to form micelles, adsorption at phase boundaries, low toxicity) surfactants (surface-active compounds) are widely applied in industry and in the household. As their applications are on a very large scale, it has become necessary to acquire a more detailed understanding of their environmental fate. Mainly, research is carried out for determination anionic and non-ionic compounds. Only few studies are concerned for determination of cationic analytes levels, which are more toxic than other surfactants [1]. In the methodologies for analysing environmental samples, the isolation and/or preconcentration of analytes constitute an important step. Usually is applied traditional technique liquid-liquid extraction (LLE). This technique involves the use of toxic solvent (chloroform), is time- and labour- consuming. For the analysis of extracts, depending on whether information is required - the total concentration or the levels of particular surface-active compounds in environmental samples - spectrophotometry and liquid chromatography mainly are used. Nowadays, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is usually coupled with mass spectrometry detector (MS), which allows for detection, identification and quantification the various surfactants in suitably prepared extracts. But spectrophotometry technique is non-selective and HPLC-MS technique is cost-consuming. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new analytical procedures (accordance with the principles of "green analytical chemistry"), which allow determination cationic surfactants in liquid samples. Developed procedures should be simple, quick, sensitive and selective.REFERENCES[1] Ewa Olkowska, Żaneta Polkowska, Jacek Namieśnik, Analytics of surfactants in environmental samples: problems and challenges, Chem. Rev. 11, 5667-5700, 2011.

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