The 235 nm/280 nm UV absorbance ratio (UV Ratio) is widely used as a measure of the degree of polymerization of glutaraldehyde.  Conventional practice is to measure the UV absorbance of bulk material at 235 nm (C=C absorption) and at 280 nm (C=O absorption).  Gel permeation chromatography of preparations of heat-treated glutaraldehyde (HTGA) did not have sufficient mass discrimination to explain the variation in the UV Ratio of HTGA.  Preparations of HTGA were analyzed by direct infusion ion trap mass spectrometry (IT-MS) and time of flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS).  Structures were assigned to the masses found.  The structures of the UV-absorbing species were used to calculate absorbance contributions from each species found in the preparations at greater than 5% relative abundance.  The contributions were weighted and summed. A MS-based 235 nm/280 nm ratio was calculated and compared to the experimentally determined 235 nm/280 nm ratio for the HTGA preparations.  A very good correlation was obtained.

Correlation of the mass spectrometric analysis of heat-treated glutaraldehyde preparations to their 235 nm/280 nm UV absorbance ratio

248th National Meeting (2014)

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