Determination of three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in environmental water samples by disposable fibers of solid-phase microextraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatograph

A method was developed for the determination of phenanthrene, fluoranthene and chrysene in environmental water samples using disposable fibers of solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC). The disposable SPME fibers for the extraction were added into the sample (60 mL) spiked with 20 g/L NaCl. After extracted for 60 min at a stirring speed of 1200 r/min, the fibers were collected and immersed in 120 microL methanol for 24 h to desorb the analytes for the HPLC analysis followed. Under the optimized conditions, the respective detection limits were 0. 17 microg/L for phenanthrene and fluoranthene, and 0.08 microg/L for chrysene, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were less than 8% (n=6). The method was successfully applied to analyze real environmental water samples with spiked recoveries in the range of 80.0%-107%. This method is cost-effective, easy to operate, and overcomes the carry-over problem of the pollutants on the fibers.