Analysis of Fiber Dyes By Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) with Electrospray Ionization: Discriminating Between Dyes with Indistinguishable UV-Visible Absorption Spectra

Abstract

Abstract Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is shown to provide high discriminating power for the identification of textile dyes that can not be reliably distinguished on the basis of their UV/visible absorption profile. Seven pairs of commercial dyes having nearly identical UV/visible absorption profiles and absorption maxima within 5 nm, were identified successfully by LC-MS. Two pairs of cotton fibers, which were indistinguishable by microspectrophotometry, were differentiated by LC-MS. A single wavelength UV/visible detector was used to monitoring dye elution from the column. The utility of the method for comparing questioned and known fibers is discussed.