Determination of Formaldehyde Content in Melamine Wares by HPLC

HPLC was the applied for determination of formaldehyde in melamine table wares. Formaldehyde was extracted from melamine wares with acetic acid (4+96) solution,and reacted with 2,4-dinitrobenzene to form 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrozones. The derivative was then separated on a C18 column with methanol-water (7+3) as the mobile phase for isocratic elution. UV-detection was made at the wavelength of 350 nm was used. The linear relationship was found between the peak area and the mass concentration of formaldehyde in the range of 0.01-40.0 mg·L-1,with limit of quantification (10S/N) of 0.01 mg·L-1. The recovery rates measured by standard addition were in the range of 99.8%-101% with RSD′s (n=10) less than 0.6%. The method was used to determine formaldehyde in melamine wares.