Analysis of Haloacetic Acids in Drinking Water by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Based on liquid-liquid micro-extraction and acidic methanol derivatization methods from EPA Method 552.3, a gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) method has been studied for determininghaloacetic acid (HAAS) in drinking water using ultrapure water instead of methyl tert-butyl ether MTBE) as solvent for preparing standard stock solution. The results showed that the peaks of 1, 2-dibromo propane (internal standard) and HAAs were separated very well. With the improved method, the recoveries for HAAs (82% - 103%) were high at concentrations ranging from 5 to 80 mu g/L, the detection limits for dichloroacetic acid DCAA) and trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) were 0.72 and 0.44 mu g/L. With the improved method, the runtime could be also significantly reduced without compromising the analytical resolutions. It is also demonstrated that the stock standard was stable under storage for 2 months at 4 degrees C