Determination of organophosphorus fire retardants and plasticizers in wastewater samples using MAE-SPME with GC-ICPMS and GC-TOFMS detection

Determination of organophosphorus. re retardants and plasticizers at trace levels in wastewater is described. In this work, microwave assisted extraction ( MAE) and solid-phase microextraction ( SPME) are used for sample preparation to extract and preconcentrate the analytes, followed by analysis by gas chromatography coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ( GC-ICP-MS) for phosphorus-specific detection. Gas chromatography coupled to time of flight mass spectrometry ( GC-TOF-MS) was used to confirm the organphosphorus. re retardants in wastewater. The detection limits of organophosphorus. re retardants ( OPFRs) were 29 ng L-1 for tri-n-butyl phosphate ( TnBP), 45 ng for L-1 for tris( 2-butoxyethyl) phosphate ( TBEP), and 50 ng L-1 for tris( 2-ethylhexyl) phosphate ( TEHP). Optimized extraction conditions were performed at 65 degrees C for 30 min and with 10% NaCl. Application of MAE during the sample preparation prior to the SPME allowed the detection of tris( 2-ethylhexyl) phosphate, which has been difficult to determine in previous work. Application of the method to wastewater samples resulted in detecting 3.1 mu g L-1 P from TnBP, 5.0 mu g L-1 P from TBEP, and 4.0 mu g L-1 P from TEHP. The presence of these compounds were also confirmed by SPME-GC-TOF-MS.