Determination of lower aliphatic carbonyl compounds in stack gas as their 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones by micellar electrokinetic chromatography

A method for the determination of lower aliphatic carbonyl compounds in stack gas was described. Carbonyls were sampled with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH). The sorbent was extracted with carbon disulfide, and the hydrazones were determined by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) with UV detection at 214 nm. Under the optimized MEKC conditions, the DNPH derivatives of the three carbonyls (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acetone) were completely separated from one another. The method was validated over the range of 10–500 mg/L of carbonyl-DNPH. The detection limit of the method was 2.0 mg/L, which is suitable for the determination of carbonyls in stack gas samples.