Abstract
A new method was developed for the preconcentration and determination of organosulfur compounds (OSCs) in water samples using homogeneous liquid-liquid microextraction via flotation assistance (HLLME-FA) and gas chromatography (GC) with flame ionization detection (FID). Toluene at microliter volume level and acetone were used as an extraction and a homogeneous solvent, respectively. In this research, a special extraction cell was designed to facilitate collection of the low-density solvent extraction. No centrifugation was required in this procedure. Using air flotation, extraction solvent was collected at the conical part of the designed cell. The effects of the different variables on the efficiency of the extraction such as kind and the volume of extraction and homogeneous solvents, ionic strength and extraction time were studied and optimized. Under the optimum conditions, linearity of the method were in the range from 0.25 to 200 µg L-1 with limit of detections (LODs) (S/N = 3) were in the range from 0.05 to 0.4 µg L-1. HLLME-FA is a fast, simple and efficient method for the determination of organic sulfur compounds in aquatic samples. KEY WORDS: Homogeneous liquid-liquid microextraction, Flotation assistance, Organosulfur compounds, Gas chromatography, Water samples Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2014, 28(2), 195-204DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v28i2.4
Highlights
Organosulfur compounds (OSCs) may occur in different aquatic environment as a consequence of industrial processes such as biogas production, sewage treatment, production of dye stuffs and detergents, or natural reduction processes in the presence of high amounts of organic matter and sulfate [1,2,3,4]
The objective of this study was to investigate the applicability of HLLME-FA for the preconcentration and determination of OSCs in aqueous samples prior to gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID)
The HLLME-FA method combined with GC-FID was applied for the extraction and determination of OSCs in the aquatic samples
Summary
Organosulfur compounds (OSCs) may occur in different aquatic environment as a consequence of industrial processes such as biogas production, sewage treatment, production of dye stuffs and detergents, or natural reduction processes in the presence of high amounts of organic matter and sulfate [1,2,3,4]. Volatile OSCs have been identified as the predominant odorants from bioindustry emissions [5]. Because of their very low odor threshold and extremely unpleasant odor, they contribute to pollution even when very small amounts are emitted [6, 7]. The International Labor Organization of the United Nations reports that some sulfur compounds can cause health problems, including damage to the human respiratory system, even at low concentrations, and that exposure to high levels of OSCs can be extremely harmful, causing unconsciousness and death [3, 4, 6]. The determination of OSCs in aqueous environmental samples is usually carried out by methods including gas chromatography (GC) [8, 9], gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) [10, 11] and liquid chromatography [12]
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