IDENTIFICATION OF BENZIDINE BASED DYES AND NON-BENZIDINE BASED DYES BY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH MASS-SELECTIVE DETECTOR

The recent public awareness and consciousness about environmental prot ection followed by the strict Government regulatory orders in some cou ntries on the manufacture and the use of dyes based on benzidine and i ts analogues due to their carcinogenicity and to the growing consumer preference for non-toxic materials have obliged the leather industry t o use non-benzidine based dyes.(1) This has necessitated the developme nt of analytical techniques for distinguishing benzidine based dyes fr om non-benzidine based dyes. A gas chromatographic method using a mass selective detector for the unambiguous identification of benzidine dy es by recording the mass spectrum of the peak corresponding to the ret ention time of benzidine and quantification of benzidine by monitoring the peak area of the ion of 184 amu is described in this communicatio n.