Migration of ε-caprolactam from nylon cooking utensils: validation of a liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection method

Migration study of caprolactam from polyamide 6 sheets into food simulants

Caprolactam, used in manufacturing polyamide (PA) 6, may threaten human health. Here, PA 6 sheets were produced by using a twin-screw extruder to evaluate its safety. Caprolactam migration concentrations from the PA 6 sheets into food simulants were evaluated according to the standard migration test conditions under the Korean Food Standards Codex (KFSC). Concentrations were investigated under various food simulants (distilled water, 4% acetic acid, 20 and 50% ethanol, and heptane) and storage conditions (at 25, 60, and 95 °C). Caprolactam migration concentrations into food simulants were determined as follows: 4% acetic acid (0.982 mg/L), distilled water (0.851 mg/L), 50% ethanol (0.624 mg/L), 20% ethanol (0.328 mg/L), and n-heptane (not detected). Migrations were determined to be under the regulatory concentration (15 mg/L) according to the KFSC test conditions. Taken together, these results verified that the standard migration test conditions by KFSC were reliable to evaluate the safety of PA 6.

Uptake of caprolactam and its influence on growth and oxygen production of Desmodesmus quadricauda algae

The consumption of polyamides produced from caprolactam is increasing continuously, and for that reason the danger of environmental contamination by this lactam is also rising. This study's aim was to evaluate the influence of caprolactam on the growth and oxygen production of the green alga Desmodesmus quadricauda and on caprolactam uptake by this alga. The presence of caprolactam in water was observed to cause the algae significantly to increase its oxygen production. Caprolactam concentration of 5,000 mg/L stopped algae growth after 6 days and influenced coenobia structure (seen as disappearance of pyrenoids, deformation of cells) but did not decrease the number of cells in the coenobia. Caprolactam uptake is probably passive but relatively rapid. Maximum concentration in the algae was reached after 18-24 h.

Identification of ɛ-caprolactam, melamine and urea in polyvinylpyrrolidone powders by micellar electrokinetic chromatography

A sodium dodecyl sulfate micellar electrokinetic chromatography (SDS-MEKC) method for the simultaneous separation and identification of ɛ-caprolactam, melamine and urea deliberately added to polyvinylpyrrolidone (povidone) products has been developed. All samples to be analyzed contained paracetamol as an internal marker (IM). The optimized separations were performed in 50mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) containing 2% (w/v) sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in fused silica capillaries with UV absorption detection at 200nm. The method was validated with respect to repeatability and intermediate precision, selectivity and robustness with satisfactory results. The relative migration times (RMT) were found to be between 0.03% and 0.13% for intra-day precision and between 0.50% and 0.60% for inter-day precision in four days. The detection limits were determined to be 1.3 (11.5μM), 0.4 (3.5μM) and 41μg/ml (0.4mM) for ɛ-caprolactam, melamine and urea, respectively.