Analysis of L-Quebrachitol from the waste water of rubber latex serum using hydrophilic interaction chromatography and evaporative light scattering detector method

L-Quebrachitol (QCT) is a valuable active ingredient found in rubber latex serum. Due to its high polarity, quantitative analysis of QCT is difficult on traditional reverse phase liquid chromatography (RPLC). Hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) using a Shiseido PC HILIC column (250 × 4.6 mm) and an evaporative light-scattering detector (ELSD) was found to be convenient for the analysis of QCT. The mobile phase was acetonitrile-water (60:40, v/v), retention factor is 0.92. Outstanding detection linearity (5 × 10^-5-4 g/L) and limit of detection (LOD, 8 × 10^-6 g/L) was achieved. Using this method, 2.2% wt QCT was determined to be present in rubber latex waste water. The retention of QCT on PC HILIC, which was immobilized with phosphorylcholine, was also investigated theoretically, the interaction energy between QCT and phosphorylcholine group is -51.498 kJ/mol, and ΔH⁰ and ΔS⁰ for the retention of QCT on PC HILIC is -0.699 kJ/mol and 2.72 J/mol · K, respectively.