Determination of some aromatic amines in finger-paints for children's use by supercritical fluid extraction combined with gas chromatography.

A test method based on supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and gas chromatography has been developed for some aromatic amines, such as 4-chloro-o-toluidine, beta-naphthylamine and 4-aminobiphenyl. A two-level factor design was used as the optimization procedure. Four main variables were considered: CO2 pressure, extraction temperature, static extraction time and volume of modifier (methanol). Results obtained for 4-chloro-o-toluidine, indicated that the volume of modifier was the variable with the most important influence on extraction, CO2 pressure had a negative effect and temperature and time were less significant. For the other amines, static time was the most important variable in both cases, followed by CO2 pressure and volume of modifier, with no influence of temperature. SFE was compared with Soxhlet extraction, and was found to give higher recoveries in all cases. Other commercial finger-paints were tested for the presence of aromatic amines.