Determination of aniline and quinoline compounds in textiles

- A method for the simultaneous determination of twenty-one quinolines and anilines in textile materials was developed and evaluated.
- Very efficient clean-up of textile extracts was obtained using GCB-SPE cartridges.
- Several toxic compounds were revealed in a pilot explorative survey on consumer clothes.
- Among compounds detected in real samples several of them falls under REACH regulation.

A simple method for simultaneous determination of twenty-one analytes, belonging to two classes of compounds, aromatic amines and quinolines, is presented. Several of the analytes considered in this study frequently occur in textiles goods on the open market and have been related to allergic contact dermatitis and/or are proven or suspected carcinogens. The method includes an efficient clean-up step using graphitized carbon black (GCB) that simplifies and improves the robustness of the subsequent GC-MS analysis. Briefly, after solvent extraction of the textile sample, the extract is passed through a GCB SPE cartridge that selectively retain dyes and other interfering compounds present in the matrix, producing a clean extract, suitable for GC-MS analysis, is obtained.The method was evaluated by spiking blank textiles with the selected analytes. Method quantification limits (MQL) ranged from 5 to 720 ng/g depending on the analyte. The linear range of the calibration curves ranged over two order magnitude with coefficients of determination (R2) higher than 0.99. Recoveries ranged from 70 to 92% with RSDs 1.7-14%. The effectiveness of the method was tested on a variety of textile materials samples from different origin.In a pilot explorative survey, 2,6-dichloro-4-nitroaniline was detected in all the analysed clothing samples in concentrations ranging from 1.0 to 576 μg/g. 2,4-dinitroaniline was detected in four of the seven samples with a highest concentration of 305 μg/g. Quinoline was detected in all samples in concentrations ranging from 0.06 to 6.2 μg/g.