Determination of the content of alkyl ketene dimer in its latex by an ionic-liquid assisted headspace gas chromatography.

This paper reports on an ionic-liquid assisted headspace gas chromatographic (HS-GC) for the determination of the content of alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) in its latex samples, in which the GC system was equipped with a thermal conductivity detector (TCD). The method was based on the AKD hydrolysis conducted in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (ionic-liquid) added medium at 100°C for 10min in a closed headspace sample vial, and the measured CO2 (the resulting product of the hydrolysis) by HS-GC. The results showed that the present method has a good measurement precision (RSD <2.3%) and accuracy (recoveries from 96 - 105%), and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) is 0.9%. The present method is very suitable to be used for the routine check of AKD content in its latex sample in mill applications. The study also showed that the content of AKD in the tested commercial latex samples were in the range of 3.5-12%.