USE OF THE HYPER-CROSS-LINKED POLYSTYRENE SORBENTS STYROSORB FOR SOLID-PHASE EXTRACTION OF PHENOLS FROM WATER

The analytical HPLC procedure for the quantitation of trace amounts of phenol and chlorophenols in aqueous media has been supplemented with the on-line preconcentration of phenols in a sorption cartridge packed with microporous hyper-crosslinked polystyrene. The cartridge is coupled in succession with a reversed-phase analytical column, which is operated isocratically in an aqueous acetonitrile eluent (1:1, v/v). Phenol concentrations down to 0.5 mu g/1 can be detected using a simple 254 nm UV detector. Biporous hyper-crosslinked polystyrene-type sorbents were shown to effectively purify about 100 bed volumes of water from phenol under neutral or acidic conditions and linear flow rates up to 4 cm/min, which could be of great practical importance. Rapid and quantitative elution of sorbates from the hyper-crosslinked polystyrene materials is facilitated by the unique ability of the latter to additionally swell with organic or aqueous-organic eluents applied.