Additives in Polymer Formulations: Analysis by Chromatographic Techniques

ROXANA A. RUSECKAITE, ALFONSO JIMENEZ

Encyclopedia of Chromatography, Second Edition

Marcel Dekker

Lugar: New York; Año: 2005; p. 13 - 17

The identification and eventual determination of polymer additives is an important issue in many fields.In the area of packaging materials, additive migration from materials in contact with food may have potential toxic effects in humans. In biomedical applications, plasticizers present in polymers [e.g., diethylhexylphthalate (DEHP) in PVC] can readily leach into the liquids passing through them, particularly lipid-containing fluids, e.g., blood. or chemically with their contents or environments. Therefore, the possible release of polymer additives by plastic items should be monitored and minimized. Chromatographic techniques, either on their own or in conjunction with powerful analytical techniques, in particular mass spectrometry (MS), have shown great potential in the identification and eventual determination of many of these compounds. As pointed out above, it is evident that the development of new reliable and rapid analysis methods for polymer additives is a challenging task for several reasons: quality control; additive depletion stability during processing and lifetime; litigation; migration studies; contamination; government regulations; and development of new materials.