ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Spectroscopic methods for assessment of hand sanitizers

Soumyabrata Banik, Sindhoora Kaniyala Melanthota, Anjana Anandan Vannathan, Krishna Kishore Mahato, Sib Sankar Mal, and Nirmal Mazumder

Department of Biophysics, Manipal School of Life Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India

E-mail: malss@nitk.edu.in

Received: 30 December 2021  Accepted: 4 April 2022

Abstract:

Sanitization of inanimate objects or body surfaces using disinfectant is essential for eliminating disease-causing pathogens and maintaining personal hygiene. With the advent of health emergencies, the importance and high demand for hand sanitizers (HS) are observed in everyday life. It is also important to know the constituent added to formulate HS, as the presence of harsh chemicals can cause skin irritation. In this study, different spectroscopic techniques were used to assess several commercially available HS along with the in-house prepared HS as per the WHO protocol. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy identified the different HS chemical bonds and quantified the amount of alcohol and water in the HS. Varying amount of alcohols in HS, calibration profile was generated to identify its amount in commercial samples. Further, the commercial samples were also checked for contaminants whose presence in the HS might bring down its sanitization efficacy.

Keywords: Disinfectant; Hand sanitizers; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; Raman spectroscopy

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-022-02208-x

Chemical Papers 76 (8) 4907–4918 (2022)