Primary secondary amine as a sorbent material in dispersive solid-phase extraction clean-up for the determination of indicator polychlorinated biphenyls in environmental water samples by gas chromatography with electron capture detection

A simple, rapid, and novel method has been developed and validated for determination of seven indicator polychlorinated biphenyls in water samples by gas chromatography with electron capture detection. 1 L of water samples containing 30 g of anhydrous sodium sulfate was first liquid–liquid extracted with an automated Jipad-6XB vertical oscillator using n-hexane/dichloromethane (1:1, v/v). The concentrated extract was cleaned up by dispersive solid-phase extraction with 100 mg of primary secondary amine as sorbent material. The linearity of this method ranged from 1.25 to 100 μg/L, with regression coefficients ranging between 0.9994 and 0.9999. The limits of detection were in the ng/L level, ranging between 0.2 and 0.3 ng/L. The recoveries of spiked seven polychlorinated biphenyls with external calibration method at different concentration levels in tap water, lake water, and sea water were in the ranges of 85–112, 76–116, and 72–108%, respectively, and with relative standard deviations of 3.3–4.5, 3.4–5.6, and 3.1–4.8% (n = 5), respectively. The performance of the proposed method was compared with traditional liquid–liquid extraction and solid-phase extraction clean-up methods, and comparable efficiencies were obtained. It is concluded that this method can be successfully applied for the determination of polychlorinated biphenyls in different water samples. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved