Abstract: Acetaldehyde emission in upholstery leather has been focused by the customers and leather enterprises, and the related test method is required. In this investigation, the water- extraction operation and gas-extraction operation were both applied which consisted of derivatization by 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) and detection by HPLC, for determining acetaldehyde emitted from leather. The results indicated that method based on water-extraction was incapable of detecting acetaldehyde in leather, while gas-extraction operation can screen acetaldehyde with concentrations at the range of 0.7-1.8 mg/kg. For gas extraction method, higher temperature could lead to larger emission of acetaldehyde. Incubation at 60 ℃ for 3 h, the release of acetaldehyde reached equilibrium. The results revealed that the way of sample pretreatment and the treatment conditions are critical for detection of acetaldehyde in leather.

Key words: leather, acetaldehyde, test, gas extraction