The use of zeolite 13X as a stationary phase for direct determination of water in organic solvents by high-performance liquid chromatography

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for direct determination of water impurities in various organic solvents using a column (50 × 4.6 mm, ID) packed with 5 μm faujasite and methanol as an eluent was developed. Detection of the water peaks was performed by using either refractometric or indirect spectrophotometric method at 204 nm. In the first case the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) were 0.001 wt% and 0.0033 wt%, respectively for a sample volume of 20 μL. A linear calibration plot (R2 = 0.9998) for the water content between 0.01 and 9.55 wt% was obtained. The developed method was applied for the direct analysis of various polar organic solvents including acetonitrile, nitromethane, 1,4-dioxane, 2-ethoxyethanol, methanol, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), ethanol and 2-propanol. [Display omitted] •Well known selectivity of zeolites is realized in liquid chromatography.•Method of direct HPLC determination of water in polar organic solvents is developed.•Zeolite 13X aka faujasite used as the stationary phase for liquid chromatography.•The developed method has advantages over standard methods of water determination.