HPLC Determination of Sulphonated Melamines-Formaldehyde Condensates (SMFC) and Lignosulphonates (LS) in Drinking and Ground Waters

New separation/detection procedures by reversed-phase HPLC coupled with UV and fluorescence detection have been developed for the determination of organic admixtures of the sulphonated melamines-formaldehyde condensates (SMFC) and lignosulphonates (LS) type in environmental samples (drinking and ground waters), as well as in concrete leachates. The developed method permitted to reach detection limits in the 0.05-0.3 µg range (as injected amount). An extraction/enrichment method from the titled environmental samples based on solid-phase-extraction (SPE) has been developed for SMFC by using polystyrene-divinylbenzene (PS-DVB, Envichrom-P) resin as sorbent. SMFC were extracted (recovery: ca. 70%) from aqueous samples at starting concentrations down to 10 µg/L. A structural confirmation of SMFC in aqueous samples was established by HPLC/Mass Spectrometry with electrospray interface (HPLC-ESI-MS) by using collision-induced ion fragmentation (in source-CID mode). The developed analytical procedures were applied to the determination of SMFC and LS in commercial blends, in drinking and ground waters, as well as in industrial effluents and liquors from leaching test experiments. Only shorter SMFC and LS components were identified as result of the leaching from concrete specimen.