Determination of ethylene glycol using periodate oxidation and liquid chromatography

Abstract

The coupling of a simple pre-derivatisation reaction step with high-performance liquid chromatography permitted the determination of ethylene glycol at levels from 12 to 100 p.p.m. Ethylene glycol was oxidised by periodate (IO₄^–) to form formaldehyde and iodate (IO₃^–). The iodate was retained on a polymeric anion-exchange column for about 8 min and the resulting peak was used to quantitate the initial ethylene glycol in the sample. Using UV absorbance at 254 nm, the detection limit for iodate corresponded to about 12 p.p.m. of ethylene glycol. A simple but effective extraction scheme was developed to permit the determination of ethylene glycol in either new or used oil samples.