Headspace Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy Analysis and Antibacterial Tests of Commercial Hand Sanitizers

As of late 2019, with the rapid and alarming spread of the SARS-Cov-2 (Covid-19) virus from the coronavirus family, serious measures had to be taken all over the world. The efforts to prevent this global epidemic have started with the legal measures taken by the countries in this regard and the warnings of the World Health Organization (WHO) that the epidemic should be taken seriously. In this process, the success of the use of masks and the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer in preventing the disease has been evaluated and approved by scientists. In terms of the effectiveness of hand sanitizers, it is seen that the main components are ethyl alcohol and isopropyl alcohol, which are alcohol derivatives and they are considered as active ingredients due to their antibacterial and antiseptic effect. In this study, 11 commercially purchased hand sanitizer active and additional ingredients were identified and listed by headspace gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (HS/GCMS) and their antibacterial activities were studied. Hand sanitizers containing alcohol derivatives were used in the study. As a result of this study, it was observed that 4 out of11 commercial hand sanitizers were not suitable for the final concentration values of hand sanitizer determined by the World Health Organization (accepted as 80%(v/v) for alcohol derivatives). Apart from this, hand sanitizers numbered 5 and 9 did not show antibacterial properties against Escherichia coli and hand sanitizers numbered 1 and 10 did not show antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus. This situation shows that the standards of hand sanitizers should be controlled with much more stringent rules