Influence of the Chromatographic Conditions of the EN ISO 17226-1 Standard “Determination of formaldehyde content in leather. Part 1. Quantification by HPLC” on the Robustness of the Method

Abstract

Given the carcinogenic character of formaldehyde, it should bereliably determined in any substrate. The EN ISO 17226Standard is the Official Method to quantify formaldehyde inleather using either the chromatographic or the colorimetricmethods. In cases of discrepancy between results, according tothe ISO Organization, preference should be given to thechromatographic method (EN ISO 17226-1 Standard) instead ofthe colorimetric one (EN ISO 17226-2 Standard). The EN ISO17226-1 Standard recommends chromatographic conditions ofcolumn, mobile phase composition and flow rate.The paper studies the influence of changes in flow rate,composition of the mobile phase and separating columnsrecommended by the EN ISO 17226-1 Standard for thedetermination of formaldehyde content in leather. It has beenmade relevant that small variations in the flow rate anddifferences in mobile phase compositions ranging from 35/65 to45/55 Water/Acetonitrile does not significantly affect the resultsof formaldehyde concentration.As regards the different separating columns, non-significantdifferences between them were observed. However, consideringthe effectiveness and the retention time of the separatingcolumns, the solid-core particle (Cortecs®C18) column can berecommended because it has in excess the capacity to separatethe formaldehyde peak from that of the residual DNPH reagentin less than 2 minutes which is lower than those of the othercolumns tested. Consequently, the productivity of the analyticallaboratories is improved.