Reverse Phase HPLC Analysis of Commercial Surfactants used as Melt Additives

Abstract Reverse phase HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) was used to analyze the length distribution of polyoxyethylene (POE) chains in commercial surfactants that can be used as melt additives for hydrophilic polypropylene surface modification. Ten nonionic surfactants including ethoxylated alcohols, nonyl phenols and amines, PEG esters, and mono glycerides were investigated. HPLC methods described herein are capable of analyzing ethoxylated nonionic surfactants and offer the advantage of separating the components in surfactants according to both the hydrophobe and hydrophile chain length. Moreover, the method is rapid and gradient elution allows for good baseline separation of the several components in the additives.