Preconcentration of phthalic acid esters in water samples by Saccharomyces cerevisiae immobilized on silica gel

Abstract

A sensitive and selective column adsorption method is proposed for the off-line preconcentration and determination of phthalic acid esters (PAEs), namely benzyl-butyl phthalate (BBP), di- n-butyl phthalate (DBP) and di-cyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP). The PAEs was preconcentrated on Saccharomyces cerevisiae immobilized on silica gel and then determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Several parameters on the recovery of the analytes were investigated. Recoveries of BBP, DBP and DCHP were 100±2, 98±2 and 98±3%, respectively, at 95% confidence level under optimum conditions. The detection limits (3S/N) of BBP, DBP and DCHP were 3.2, 6.3 and 3.1 μg l −1, respectively. The capacity of the adsorbent was also examined and found to be 1.4 mg g −1 for BBP and DBP, and 3.6 mg g −1 for DCHP. S. cerevisiae immobilized on silica gel is suitable for repeated use without decreasing recovery up to about 25 adsorption–elution cycles. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of PAEs in river water with high precision and accuracy.