Trace analysis of hetero aromatic compounds (NSO) in water and polluted groundwater by solid phase micro-extraction (SPME)

By using Solid Phase Micro-Extraction (SPME) and Capillary Gas Chromatography (CGC) a method was developed to analyze hetero aromatic compounds (NSO) in water, Compounds with nitrogen, sulfur, or oxygen in the aromatic ring system are found in creosote-contaminated groundwater. NSO are highly water-soluble, toxic, and have adverse organoleptic characteristics. SPME is a fast, simple, and solvent-free sample preparation technique that involves exposing a polymer coated fiber to a sample to extract contaminants, Different fiber coatings were tested, and polyacrylate was found to extract NSO in the highest amounts and to be most versatile, Extraction was strongly enhanced by salting, The optimized SPME method combined with CGC coupled to an ion trap mass spectrometer (ITMS) has detection limits of 20-40 ng/L for the semi-volatile and 1-10 mu g/L for the volatile NSO, response linear with respect to concentrations over three orders of magnitude, and precision of 3-14% relative standard deviation, The method was evaluated using real creosote-contaminated groundwater samples and feasibility was demonstrated, SPME-CGC/ITMS allows an unequivocal identification and quantification at a low NSO level in environmental samples.