Determination of Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Phenols, and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Water by Stir bar Sorptive Extraction and Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe paper presents procedures for stir bar sorptive extraction for selected priority substances that include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, and benzene and its aromatic homologs. Three extraction and instrumental analysis procedures were developed for the determination of 16 compounds. The developed solid-phase extraction methods using a movable element had high recoveries above 70%. Extraction methods were optimized by selecting an appropriate time and temperature of the process, the sample pH, and stirring speed. The detection limits for the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ranged from 0.33 µg/dm3 for naphthalene to 2.22 µg/dm3 for phenanthrene. Slightly higher limits of quantification were obtained for phenols: from 9.21 µg/dm3 for phenol to 0.51 µg/dm3 for 2,4,6-trimethylphenol. The highest limit of quantification for the tested compounds was obtained for benzene, with a value of 36.6 µg/dm3, while for toluene and ethylbenzene, the values did not exceed 2.7 µg/dm3.