Headspace Single-Drop Microextraction with Gas Chromatography for Determination of Volatile Halocarbons in Water Samples

A simple, rapid and inexpensive procedure for extraction and analysis of volatile halocarbons in water samples was presented using the headspace single-drop microextraction (HS-SDME) technique and gas chromatography with microcell electron capture detector (GC-μECD). Operation parameters. such as extraction solvent. headspace volume. organic drop volume. salt concentration. temperature and sampling time, were studied and optimized. Extraction of 10 volatile halocarbon compounds was achieved using the optimized method. Calibration curves of 10 target compounds yielded good linearity in the respective range of concentration (R ² ≥ 0.9968, chlorodibromomethane in the concentration range of 0.05–50 μg/L). The limits of detection were found between 0.002 (tetrachloroethene) and 0.374μg/L (1,1,2-trichloroethane). and relative standard deviations (RSD%) ranged between 4.3 (chloroform) and 9.7% (1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane). Spiked recoveries of tap water and ground water agreed well with the known values between 118.97 (20.0μg/L of 1,1,2-trichloroethane) and 82.61% (10.0μg/L of tetrachloroethene), demonstrating that the HS-SDME combined GC-μECD was a useful and reliable technique for the rapid determination of volatile halocarbon compounds in water samples.