Determination of trialkyl and triaryl phosphates in environmental samples

Abstract

Analytical methods of trialkyl and triaryl phosphate esters in water and sediment were developed. An environmental survey of them was performed using developed methods. The extract with dichloromethane (water sample) or acetone (sediment sample) was analyzed with a gas chromatograph equipped with a flame photometric detector and a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer after clean-up through Florisil column. The separation of gas chromatography was good with 2% OV-17 + 2% PZ-179 on Uniport HPS. Recoveries fortified with 0.3–3 μg were 71–98% for water sample and 78–95% for sediment sample. In the environmental survey, tributyl phosphate (5–36 ng l −1), Tris (3-chloropropyl) phosphate (16–176 ng l −1), Tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) (14–347 ng l −1), Tris (2,3-dichloropropyl) phosphate (CRP) (23–136 ng l −1), triphenyl phosphate (13–31 ng l −1), and tricresyl phosphate (67–259 ng l −1) were detected in river water and seawater, and TCEP (13-28 ng g −1) and CRP (9–17 ng g −1) were detected in sediment.