Facile synthesis of polymer monolith functionalized with layered double hydroxide as effective preconcentration materials for fluorescent whitening agents

In the current study, a novel monolithic capillary column functionalized with layered double hydroxide (LDH) was developed and exploited for the separation and preconcentration of fluorescent whitening agents combined with high performance liquid chromatography. Mg-Al LDH was embedded in the poly(dimethyl diallyl ammonium chloride-ethylene dimethacrylate) monolith via in situ polymerization. The ratio of LDH introduced into the polymerization mixtures was finely investigated. The characteristic properties of LDH and functionalized monolith were carefully characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, Fourier-transformed infrared spectra, and thermal gravimetric analysis. After optimizing various experimental parameters, the developed method was validated and applied to the determination of fluorescent whitening agents in mask essence samples.