Progress in the analytical research methods of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one species of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) with strong carcinogenicity and teratogenicity. They can be widely found in the environment, which cause great harm to the ecological environment. In addition, they endanger human health by polluting food from the natural environment and food processing. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately detect PAHs in various sample matrices, which requires the accurate, practical and rapid detection methods. This review aims to investigate the progress of research methods for PAHs, including pretreatment methods and detection methods. A summary analysis of different methods is performed by searching the literature on numerous methods for detecting PAHs published in various journals. There are many pretreatment methods for PAHs, such as solid phase extraction (SPE), cloud point extraction (CPE) and so on. The most commonly used methods for detecting PAHs are high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Spectrophotometry, chromatography and chromatography-mass spectrometry have been used more frequently owing to their accuracy and convenience. At the same time, some immunological methods, such as immunosensormethods, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), immunofluorescence, etc. are also widely used.