Determination and dynamic analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soil and plant samples

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are hazardous environmental contaminants. Benzo[alpha]pyrene, a typical example of PAHs, is suspected to be an endocrine disrupter. Reported here are the results of the determination of PAHs in soil from several locations in Tokushima and plant samples, such as rice straw, polished rice and unpolished rice. Samples were extracted for 16 h with 120 mi of dichloromethane using a soxhlet thimble. The extract portion was then cleaned by passing it through activated silica gel with aceton/hexane (5/95, v/v). The PAHs were analyzed by HPLC and GC/MS. This method was successfully applied to the determination of PAHs in real environmental sam plea. The determination limits for PAHs were in the range of 0.1 similar to 0.5 mu g/kg for soils and plants. Replicate analyses gave errors ranging between +/- 10 similar to 30% for soils and plants. According to this determination, some PAHs, including benzo[alpha]pyrene, can be detected in soil samples and plants. For instance, the total concentration of detected PAHs was 250 mu g/kg in soil samples of University of Tokushima.