Determination of aromatic amines in water samples by capillary electrophoresis with amperometric detection

ABSTRACTAromatic amines such as aniline and its derivatives are an important class of environmental water pollutants. A method based on capillary zone electrophoresis with amperometric detection (CZE–AD) at carbon disk electrode was developed for the determination of aromatic amines in water samples. The effects of working potential, pH and concentration of running buffer, separation voltage and injection time were investigated. Under the optimum conditions, 2,3-diaminonaphthalene, aniline, o-phenylenediamine and p-chloroaniline could be separated in 0.16 mol/L Na2HPO4–citric acid buffer (pH 4.6) within 23 min. The detection limits of them were 1.0 × 10−7, 3.3 × 10−8, 5.0 × 10−8, and 1.3 × 10−7 mol/L (S/N = 3), respectively. The method can be applied directly for the determination of aromatic amines in real water samples with satisfactory results.