Development of Simultaneous HPLC-Fluorescence Assay of Phenol and Chlorophenols in Tap Water after Pre-Column Derivatization with 3-Chlorocarbonyl-6,7-dimethoxy-1- methyl-2(1<i>H</i>)-quinoxalinone

Abstract

Chlorophenols (2-chlorophenol, 4-chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,6-dichlorophenol and 2,4, 6-trichlorophenol) may be presented in natural waters or drinking water as a result of disinfection processes involving chlorination, or as contaminants derived from domestic products, industrial operations and agricultural chemicals. A previous HPLC-UV method for determination of phenol and five chlorophenols in tap water using 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiaole as a UV labeling reagent shows limited sensitivity. Here, we present an improved HPLC-fluorescence detection method for simultaneous determination of phenol and the above chlorophenols in tap water after pre-column derivatization with 3-chlorocarbonyl-6,7-dimethoxy-1-methyl-2(1H)-quino- xalinone (DMEQ-COCl), using a short, narrow column (50 × 2.1 mm i.d., packed with 5 μm particles of C18 material) to improve the sensitivity. Standard samples containing the compounds are derivatized with DMEQ-COCl in borate buffer (pH 9.0) at room temperature for 3 mins. The response is linear in the concentration range of 0.01 - 0.05 to 0.5 mg/L with r2 values ≥0.9967 for all compounds. The lower limits of detection are 0.001 to 0.008 mg/L, and the coefficients of variation are less than 8.8%. The recovery values from tap water spiked with standard samples are satisfactory. The present method is suitable for examining whether or not tap water samples are contaminated with phenol and chlorophenols in excess of regulatory values.