EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON RETENTION TIME REPRODUCIBILITY AND ON THE USE OF PROGRAMMABLE FLUORESCENCE DETECTION OF 15 POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS

The effect of temperature on the retention of 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), included in the US Environmental Protection Agency method 610, on polymeric octadecylsilyl (ODS) high-performance liquid chromatography phases is described, Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene and benzo[ghi]perylene are especially prone to change their retention on polymeric ODS phases with temperature. Using temperature control, (Delta T less than or equal to 0.1 degrees C) we have reached good retention time reproducibility: R.S.D, better than 0.07% (n = 10) for all the 15 PAHs. In practice this means that the retention time of indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene varies within 2 s. For the multiple-wavelength shift fluorescence detection retention time reproducibility is an absolute prerequisite.