The separation and identification of colourants from aqueous matrices could potentially benefit the coloration industry. In this work, we report a new method that combines hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) for reactive dye separation and identification without employing ion-pairing agents. The conditions outlined allowed the successful separation of a mixture of four commercial reactive dyes in an aqueous solution, which consisted of CI Reactive Black 5, CI Reactive Orange 35, CI Reactive Blue 49 and CI Reactive Red 31. To further demonstrate the feasibility of this new method, we conducted deeper research into the analysis of CI Reactive Red 31 and its hydrolysis products. Based on the high efficiency of HILIC for polar compounds, and its combination with HRMS, we were able to identify several isomers of CI Reactive Red 31 and its derivatives, which were further characterised by tandem mass spectrometry. This method could potentially benefit chemical evaluations in dye applications, including synthetic processes, because it provides reliable results and simplified operation conditions compared with common traditional high-performance liquid chromatography methods.

中文翻译：

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亲水相互作用液相色谱和四极杆飞行时间质谱对商业活性染料的分离和鉴定

从水性基质中分离和鉴定着色剂可能有利于着色行业。在这项工作中，我们报告了一种新方法，该方法将亲水相互作用液相色谱 (HILIC) 和高分辨率质谱 (HRMS) 相结合，在不使用离子对试剂的情况下进行活性染料分离和鉴定。概述的条件允许成功分离水溶液中四种商业活性染料的混合物，其中包括 CI 活性黑 5、CI 活性橙 35、CI 活性蓝 49 和 CI 活性红 31。为了进一步证明此方法的可行性新方法，我们对 CI 活性红 31 及其水解产物的分析进行了更深入的研究。基于 HILIC 对极性化合物的高效率及其与 HRMS 的结合，我们能够鉴定 CI 反应红 31 及其衍生物的几种异构体，并通过串联质谱法进一步表征。这种方法可能有利于染料应用中的化学评估，包括合成过程，因为与常见的传统高效液相色谱方法相比，它提供了可靠的结果和简化的操作条件。