Determination of tetraethyl ammonium by ion-pair chromatography with indirect ultraviolet detection using 4-aminophenol hydrochloride as background ultraviolet absorbing reagent

A method was developed for the determination of tetraethyl ammonium (TEA) by reversed-phase ionpair chromatography with indirect ultraviolet detection. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a reversed-phase C18 column using background ultraviolet absorbing reagent - ion-pair reagent - organic solvent as mobile phase. The effects of the background ultraviolet absorbing reagents, detection wavelength, ion-pair reagents, organic solvents and column temperature on the determination method were investigated and the retention rules discussed. Results found that TEA could be successfully analyzed by using 0.7 μmol/L 4-aminophenol hydrochloride and 0.15 μmol/L 1-heptanesulfonic acid sodium mixed with 20% (v/v) methanol asmobile phase at a UV detection wavelength of 230 nm. Under these conditions, the retention time of tetraethyl ammonium was 2.85 min. The detection limit (S/N = 3) for TEA was 0.06 mg/L. The relative standard deviations (n = 5) for peak area and retention time were 0.35% and 0.02%, respectively. The method has been successfully applied to the determination of synthesized tetraethyl ammonium bromide. Recovery of tetraethyl ammonium after spiking was 99.1%.