Validation of an analytical method for determination of 13 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in mineral water using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction and GC-MS

Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction [DLLME] combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry [GC-MS] was used for the extraction and determination of 13 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs] in mineral water samples. In this procedure, the suitable combination of extraction solvent [500 microL chloroform] and disperser solvent [1000 microL acetone] were quickly injected into the water sample [10.00 mL] by Hamilton syringe. After centrifugation, 500 microL of the lower organic phase was dried under a gentle stream of nitrogen, re-dissolved in chloroform and injected into GC-MS. Chloroform and acetone were found to be the best extraction and disperser solvent, respectively. Validation of the method was performed using spiked calibration curves. The enrichment factor ranged from 93 to 129 and the recovery ranged from 71 to 90%. The linear ranges for all the PAHs were 0.10-2.80 ngmL-1. The relative standard deviations [RSDs] of PAHs in water by using anthracene-d[10] as internal standard, were in the range of 4-11% for most of the analytes [n=3]. Limit of detection [LOD] for different PAHs were between 0.03 and 0.1 ngmL-1. The method was successfully applied to the analyze of PAHs in mineral water samples collected from Tehran