Alkylphenols and their ethoxylated derivatives are used in the textile industry as surfactants for cleaning, wetting, and dispersing agents. These chemicals are of concern due to their environmental persistence and potential endocrine-disrupting effects that mimic estrogen. These chemicals can remain on textiles, potentially transferring to skin and causing adverse health effects. They can also be released into Household wastewater during washing. Methods to monitor residual amounts of these compounds on textiles are of interest.

The International Standard ISO 21084, “Textiles – Method for Determination of Alkylphenols (AP),” is one such method. This method uses methanol and sonication to extract alkylphenols from textiles. Analysis of the extracts is accomplished using gas chromatography with triple quadrupole detection.

This document discusses a study that uses methanol as the extraction solvent and orbital agitation to quantify alkylphenols from various textiles. Orbital agitation is compared to sonication for the extraction of the AP from multiple textiles. The GERSTEL MPS sampler is used to automate the orbital agitation, extraction, and determination.