Determination of Antimicrobial Agents in Non-Formalin Adhesives for Wallpaper

To reduce formaldehyde in indoor environments, non-formalin products for wallpaper adhesives have been increased in number. In this study, an analysis method using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) specific to each of several antimicrobial agents (2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (MIT), 5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (Cl-MIT), 1, 2-benzisothiazolin-3-one (BIT), 2-n-octyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (OIT) and 2, 4, 5, 6-tetrachloro-isophthalonitrile (TPN)) was developed aiming to clarify the actual states of utilization of these agents. These antimicrobials have been reported to induce health impairments such as contact dermatitis. Furthermore, seven non-formalin adhesives for wallpaper sold as building materials were analyzed according to the established method. The present results demonstrated that these adhesives contained a combination of antimicrobials (MIT, Cl-MIT, OIT and TPN), and one of them contained TPN at a high concentration (2, 480μg/g), which is highly contact-allergenic.