Determination of epichlorohydrin by ion chromatography

In this work we developed a new method for epichlorohydrin determination with suppressed ion chromatography. The technique is based on a reaction between the analyte and sulfur(IV) to form a product with a terminal sulfonate group that can be analyzed by anion-exchange chromatography. The reaction conditions were optimized as a function of temperature, type and concentrations of reagents and pH. Due to the characteristics of the product formed, the columns used were an IonPac AS11 and AS11-HC with a NaOH eluent. The eluent concentration was optimized in order to achieve a complete separation of epichlorohydrin, chloride and nitrate ions, commonly occurring in drinking waters. In order to improve the detection limits, a preconcentration step, using reversed-phase materials, has been optimized. The method developed was suitable for epichlorohydrin determination in drinking water.