Solid‐Phase Microextraction Followed by High‐Performance Liquid Chromatography with Fluorimetric and UV Detection for the Determination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Water

Abstract

We have developed a solid‐phase microextraction procedure for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. A simplex experimental design was employed to optimize the process. A polydimethylsiloxane/divinylbenzene fiber was selected. The optimum conditions were: an extraction step in the immersion mode, over a period of 60 min at 70°C using high‐speed stirring, and an 8 min desorption step using acetonitrile (90 µl). Linear relationships were obtained for all compounds, except for naphthalene. Our method showed a good precision and accuracy with a detection limit between 0.005 and 0.306 µg l⁻¹. Our method was used to detect PAHs in real water samples.

Keywords:

• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• solid‐phase microextraction
• simplex experimental design
• liquid chromatography
• water analysis

The authors wish to gratefully acknowledge CONACYT and SEMARNAT, Mexico, for support through grant 2002‐C01–0643 and Master Fellowships for JRLG.