Cetyl alcohol, also known as palmityl alcohol or 1-hexadecanol, is a long-chain aliphatic alcohol that is a common additive in foods, cosmetics, personal care products (e.g., lotions and creams), and industrial fuels. To ensure cetyl alcohol quality, the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) has outlined a chemical purity assay within the USP-National Formulary (NF) Cetyl Alcohol monograph. The monograph outlines procedures to assess instrument performance, measure cetyl alcohol content, and identify common aliphatic alcohol impurities and other unidentified impurities using GC/FID detection.
This application note shows the performance of the PerkinElmer GC 2400 System with FID for the analysis of residual impurities in cetyl alcohol according to the USP monograph, while offering enhanced compound resolution and highly repeatable injections.