Study of applicability of various solid-phase extraction materials for sample handling in screening analysis of organic micropollutants in water

At present, solid-phase extraction (SPE) has become an often preferred preconcentration technique in the screening for a wide range of organic micropollutants in water. A wide choice of materials available on the market makes SPE a suitable tool to cope with an increasing variability of organic compounds entering the hydrosphere. However, the interactions of various sorbent materials with compounds having different physico-chemical properties leads inevitably to large differences in preconcentration efficiency. The aim of this paper was to investigate the efficiency of preconcentration of selected organic compounds from aqueous solutions on various SPE materials. Simultaneously, the potential of newly emerging SPE procedures was compared to results of traditional liquid-liquid extraction methods. The group of 19 tested analytes was selected so as to represent different classes of organic compounds which may occur in waters. The results obtained showed that most of the tested materials were suitable for sufficient preconcentration of a substantial part of the tested analytes. However, specific differences in recovery of one or more analytes were found for almost each sorbent even in the case when the materials had similar composition. This behaviour clearly indicates the need for a thorough testing of capabilities of any SPE material intended for the use in a wide range screening method for the identification of unknown organic micropollutants in water. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.