Thiazole, thiuram disulphides and dithiocarbamate represent the three major types of skin irritants. A reversed-phase HPLC method has been developed for simultaneous quantitative resolution of mixtures of this three types of leachable accelerators from latex gloves. Analyte solutions with 0.1% of Na2 EDTA were stable and reduced interferences. The approach was evaluated by a photo diode array (PDA) and an electro-chemical detectors (LCEC) in series. Quantitative results of resolved individual component from mixtures are reported. Linear least-squares slope and intercept of determined vs prepared concentrations for zinc diethyl dithiocarbamate using the LCEC detector were 1.00±0.01 and 0.05±0.02 µg/mL for three runs on each of four samples in the concentration range from 0.01 to 8.0 Ág/mL with a rsd value of 1.1% for the average concentration. Similar results were obtained for thiazole and thiuram disulphides. The PDA detector gave similar results, except the LCEC detector can reach to 100-fold lower concentrations.
The four-component mixtures can be stored at room temperature for 24 h with the relative error coefficient (rec) less than 0.3%/h and 0.5%/h for the most unstable compound using the LCEC and the PDA detectors, respectively.