Development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for pentachlorophenol

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is a hazardous pollutant with toxicity and potential carcinogenic properties being a serious threat to the environment. In this work, the development of an immunoassay for PCP is presented. A hapten was synthesised and conjugated to protein for rabbit immunisation. Three polyclonal antibodies were obtained and the best results were achieved in the antibody-coated format using antiserum R3. Calibration range was 0.3–30.5 ng ml⁻¹, with an average I₅₀ value of 2.9 ng ml⁻¹ and a detection limit of 0.1 ng ml⁻¹. The specificity of the assay was tested against PCP structurally related compounds. The method is highly specific for PCP and shows low cross-reactivity (CR) for chlorine-containing phenols, nitrophenols, benzenic and piridinic compounds. The good recoveries achieved with different water samples indicate that this assay can be a good alternative method for the determination of PCP in this kind of samples.