Determination of Residual Monomers Released from Soft Lining Materials with the use of HPLC

Abstract

A study was carried out to examine the post polymerized leachability of three non phthalic and four phthalic residual monomers, from twelve commercially available soft lining materials, using HPLC. Specimens of equal dimensions were constructed from each brand of material following a standardized procedure and were stored in three different conditions of storage i.e. distilled water, artificial saliva and a binary mixture of ethanol-water, with the resulting liquids providing samples for analysis in the HPLC apparatus. Three different experiments were performed for each brand of material  and each condition of storage, in order to examine the parameters time and temperature. The results obtained from this study suggest that a wide spectrum of residues is diffusing out of the twelve examined soft lining materials. The non phthalic compounds were leaching at high concentrations while all the phthalates examined exhibited different degrees of elusion commensurate with the storage condition, brand of material and type of experiment. The main non phthalic component extracted from all the materials was methyl methacrylate, while the mainly extracted phthalic compound was different from each material. The level of elusion seems to be increasing dependent on time, medium of storage, and temperature as well.