FLUOROMETRIC STUDY OF PCBS AND AROCLORS IN MICELLAR MEDIA - ANALYTICAL APPLICATIONS

Fluorescent characteristics of mono, di, tri, tetra, penta, hexa, hepta and octa chlorinated biphenyls, as well as typical commercial Aroclors, were studied in the presence of cationic, anionic, neutral surfactants, alpha-cyclodextrin and beta-cyclodextrin. The enhancement of the fluorescence of one of these PCBs, 3,4,4'-Trichlorobiphenyl (TRCB), in polyoxyethylene(10) laurylether (POLE) medium was used to establish a spectrofluorimetric method for the sensitive determination of TRCB. The optimization of variables such as the concentration of surfactant, percentage of organic solvent and temperature, as well as a study of the possible interferences of other PCBs and Aroclors was carried out. This method, which presented a detection limit of 4.9 ng ml(-1), has been applied to the determination of TRCB in sea water with acceptable percentages of recovery.