Detection and Determination of Aromatic Amines as Products of Reductive Splitting from Selected Azo Dyes

The current environment-friendly regulations concerning textile products ban the marketing of textiles dyed with azo dyes capable of reductively splitting carcinogenic aromatic amines. The study analyzes seven azo dyes whose chemical structure determines various quantities of splitting aromatic amines, such as benzidine. For tests, seven commercially available azo dyes with aromatic amines in their structure were selected. These included two hazardous dyes: Acid Red 85 and Direct Blue 6, both capable of reductively splitting carcinogenic benzidine. Of the remaining five azo dyes, three—Ponceau SS, Sudan II, and Disperse Yellow 7—are capable of splitting p-phenylenediamine and aniline, while Mordant Orange 1 and Disperse Orange 3 can split only p-phenylenediamine. For Acid Red 85 and Direct Blue 6, the quantity of benzidine split from them was analyzed, depending on the conditions of the reduction process (e.g., in the HPLC method, 104 g/kg of dye for reduction in NaOH, and 41 g/kg of dye for reduction in acetate buffer). The spectrophotometric method proved useful for preliminary analysis of amine content in examined samples. Spectrophotometric analysis may be used to determine the total content of amines counted as aniline. A full qualitative and quantitative analysis of amines released from azo dyes is possible using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).