Flow-injection determination of amine contaminants in cyclamate samples based on temperature for controlling selectivity

Abstract

This paper describes a flow-injection (FI) method for the simultaneous determination of aniline and cyclohexylamine impurities in cyclamate products. The method consists of the derivatization of amines with 1,2-naphthoquinone-4-sulfonate under selective and non-selective conditions. Here, the selectivity is achieved by working at 20 °C, at which only aniline reacts, whilst higher temperatures (80 °C) lead to a non-selective reaction of the two analytes. The FI manifold is composed of two flow cells for the spectrophotometric detection of derivatives at 480 nm. Experimental conditions have been optimized by factorial design and multicriteria making approach. Quantification is accomplished by differential analysis of the analyte contributions in the double peaks generated when the sample reaches cell 1 and cell 2. Results obtained with the proposed method are in satisfactory agreement with those provided by the standard method for the analysis of cyclamate samples.