Study of reactive dyes and their hydrolyzed forms in a real trichromatic dyeing process by capillary electrophoresis with UV detection

Detecting the concentration of reactive dyes and their hydrolyzed products is essential for controlling the dyeing process and is an important guide for upgrading and improving textile dyeing technology. In this study, capillary electrophoresis (CE) with UV detection was for the first time applied in a real trichromatic dyeing process to provide qualitative and quantitative determination of reactive dyes and their hydrolyzed forms. Here, three original reactive dyes (SES-Cl-red-195, SES-Cl-yellow-145, and SES-Cl-blue-194), their vinyl sulfone forms (VS-Cl-red-195, VS-Cl-yellow-145, and VS-Cl-blue-194), and complete hydrolyzed forms (HES-OH-red-195, HES-OH-yellow-145, and HES-OH-blue-194) could be baseline separated in our developed BGE comprised of 10.0 mol/L Na₂B₄O₇, 15% (V/V) ACN at pH 8.50 that adjusted by 0.50 mol/L H₃BO₃. The LODs (S/N = 3) of nine analytes ranged from 0.3 to 1.3 mg/L, and high sensitivities were achieved with UV detection. The RSDs of peak area and migration time were in the ranges of 1.4–3.8% and 0.39–1.29%, which indicated the CE methods were reliable for studying different dye forms in complex dye baths, and for evaluating dyeing process quality. Thus, the percentage of dye-uptake in single and trichromatic combination dyes was calculated based on the concentration of the original and their vinyl sulfone and hydrolyzed forms, and the result was consistent with the traditional UV–Vis method.

Graphical abstract