Simultaneous determination of one nonionic and two anionic surfactants using Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and multivariate analysis

A direct and reagent free procedure for simultaneous determination of sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES), coconut diethanol amide (CDEA) and linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LABS) in undiluted samples of hand dishwashing liquids has been developed. This determination was carried out by using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (ATR-FTIR) and multivariate analysis. An implementation of the PLS statistical approach to quantitative analysis of one nonionic and two anionic surfactants was applied to a set of mid-infrared spectra (1305-990 cm(-1)) recorded for commercial detergent samples and ternary standard solutions. An orthogonal calibration design for three components and five levels for standards were employed. Number of factors and scans and also the resolution were optimized. The statistical parameters such as the root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC), root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV), standard error of prediction (SEP) and relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) were evaluated. These parameters were obtained as: RMSEC 0.13, 0.20 and 0.14, RMSEV 0.09, 0.17 and 0.04 and SEP 0.12, 0.39 and 0.18 (g per 100 g) for SLES, CDEA and LABS, respectively. R.S.D. for five independent analyses were 1.69 for SLES, 3.76 for CDEA and 1.76 for LABS. The component linear correlation coefficients comparing actual and predicted concentrations of SLES, CDEA and LABS in some real samples were 0.9995, 0.9915 and 0.9974, respectively.