Determination of nonylphenols as pentafluorobenzyl derivatives by capillary gas chromatography with electron-capture and mass spectrometric detection in environmental matrices

Abstract

Procedures for the trace level determination of nonylphenols, the toxic and final refractory metabolites of polyethoxylated nonylphenol, in sewage sludge and river and coastal sediments were developed. Soxhlet extracts of freeze-dried samples are cleaned up through a neutral alumina column, derivatized with pentafluorobenzyl bromide and determined by capillary GC with electron-capture detection and/or electron impact and negative-ion chemical ionization MS. The detection limits achieved by the two capillary GC-MS techniques in the selected-ion monitoring were, respectively, 10 and 2.7 pg (absolute) and 1.4 and 0.3 pg/g (for a 10-g sample).