Precursor ion approach for simultaneous determination of nonethoxylated and ethoxylated alkylsulfate surfactants

We present a new liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for simultaneous determination of sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate homologues in the range of alkyl chain length C12–C16 with 0–5 ethoxy groups. The method is based on scanning the precursor ions fragmenting to m/z 80 and 97 (Precursor Ion Scanning mode), which makes it specific for species with easily cleavable sulfate groups.