Determination of sulfonated azo dyes in river water samples by capillary zone electrophoresis

A method based on capillary zone electrophoresis coupled with photodiode-array detection has been developed to determine several sulfonated dyes, including a sulfonated dye (acid yellow 1), and the sulfonated azo dyes acid orange 7, acid orange 12, acid orange 52, acid red 26, acid red 27 and acid red 88. A CElect-FS75 CE column is used. The electrophoresis buffer contains a 1:5 dilution of 10 mM phosphoric acid and tetrabutylammonium hydroxide buffer (pH 11.5), and 25 mM of triethylamine, the final pH being 11.55. The detection limits for the seven dyes ranged from 0.1 to 4.53 μg/ml. Spiked river water samples (100 ml), containing different concentration levels (0.025–0.150 μg/ml) of the dyes were analyzed after acidification (pH 3) and pre-concentration in disposable SPE Oasis HLB, 1 ml cartridges.