Rapid determination of pahs in drinking water samples using solid-phase extraction and HPLC with programmed fluorescence detection

A rapid, sensitive and selective method for determining 13 PAHs in drinking water samples using solid-phase extraction and HPLC with programmed fluorescence detection is developed. A solid-phase extraction method is described for preconcentrating the PAHs on Sep-Pak vac tC-18 cartridges. The volume of water analyzed was 1500 mL. The PAHs were eluted with ethyl ether, the eluates were evaporated to dryness and the residue was dissolved in methanol. The PAHs were analyzed on a Hypersil Green PAH column and a program of nine excitation and emission wavelength pairs were used. A mobile phase gradient of acetonitrile-water was used. It is possible to detect all the individual PAHs at very high sensitivity, at levels of ng/L. Recoveries were 60-96% for 12 PAHs at concentration levels of 2.33-48.7 ng/L with relative standard deviations in the range 0.4-10% (n=4). The method was applied to determine PAHs in tap-water and reservoir-water samples.