Determination of column selectivity toward polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

An empirical test is described for the evaluation of column selectivity in reversed-phase liquid chromatography. Using a test mixture of three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), overall column selectivity toward PAH was assessed for over 20 different commercial C₁₈ columns. Retention behavior was correlated to phase type (i.e., monomeric and polymeric surface modification chemistry) for custom synthesized phases. A classification scheme is proposed in which commercial C₁₈ columns are grouped into three classes based on retention behavior: monomeric-like, polymeric-like, and intermediate phase selectivity toward PAH. Correlation of retention behavior of the test mixture with the separation of PAH mixtures and with more general column properties (e.g., phase thickness) is discussed.     

Compatibility and universality of the retention prediction system for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Summary System-compatibility and universality of the retention prediction concept has been investigated for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in reversed-phase liquid chromatography. The results clearly indicate that the retention prediction approach has a very high potential for optimization of separation conditions in almost all reversed-phase systems, and allows more precise and rapid analysis. This approach may be one of the best optimization techniques, because the system does not require any standard materials.     

Computer interactive identification system for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in reversed-phase microcolumn liquid chromatography

Summary A computer interactive identification system is proposed which is based on the relationship between retention and molecular properties such as the size and shape of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This system offers an automatic analytical process for liquid chromatography, providing a reliable identification of the separated components. The identification can be further enhanced by the use of multiple detectors such as a multichannel UV detector. The system can be used for optimization procedures, resulting in a highly automatic complex analytical system.     

Optimization of micellar liquid chromatographic separation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with the addition of second organic additive

The micellar liquid chromatographic (MLC) separations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were optimized for three micellar systems, cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC), dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride (DTAC), and sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS), with 1-pentanol as the only organic additive. A difference in the separation was observed between CTAC and SDS/DTAC. Under each optimized separation conditions, CTAC-modified mobile phase provides the least desirable separation, which is attributed to its longer carbon tail (C16 vs. C12). In addition to 1-pentanol, the main organic additive, a second organic additive (3% 1-propanol) in the micelle-modified mobile phase was found to enhance the resolution of PAH chromatographic peaks. However, the extent of the enhancement varies for the different micellar systems, with the greatest resolution improvement seen for CTAC, and little effect for shorter-tail SDS and DTAC. This study shows the potential use of second organic additive (1-propanol), to the main nonpolar additive (1-pentanol), in facilitating the MLC separation of larger nonpolar compounds.     

Planarity recognition of large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by various octadecylsilica stationary phases in non-aqueous reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Summary Planarity recognition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has been investigated using bonded octadecyl stationary phases synthesized in different ways. Retention results indicate apparent differences among the functionalities of the stationary phases, a fact found useful for identifying the functionality of commercially available octadecylsilica (ODS) phases. Retention behevior can be explained by the slit-like structures of polymeric oDS phases, as evidenced by suspension¹³C NMR measurements.     

The use of large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to study retention in non-aqueous reversed-phase HPLC

Summary Elution strengths of 11 common HPLC solvents on a polymeric C₁₈ phase were compared using a marker set of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Naphthalene, pyrene, benzo[ghi]perylene, and three larger naphthologues of 8, 10, and 12 rings (constituting a naphthalene zigzag series) were chosen because they span the solvent strength range up to and including the strongest solvents, tetrahydrofuran (THF) and chlorobenzene. Four pairs of similarly shaped isomers were used to probe solvent selectivity. With the exception of THF, HPLC solvent strength correlated with observed red shifts of fluorescence band maxima in each solvent. For THF, the pure solvent and blended mixtures behaved quite differently.     

Ultra-high performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a passive environmental sampler

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous compounds released in the environment by different sources. The aim of the present work was to validate a solid‐phase extraction (SPE) and a rapid ultra‐high performance liquid chromatographic (UHPLC) method for the analysis of PAHs in a passive environmental sampler, namely a Dacron® (the commercial name of a synthetic fiber based on polyethylene terephthalate) textile. The elution temperature was optimized to improve the resolution of early‐eluted compounds, namely acenaphthene (Ac) and fluorene (F). The UHPLC method lasts about 10 min and showed good linearity for all the 16 PAHs considered, with regression coefficients over 0.99. Recoveries, limits of detection (LODs), and limits of quantification (LOQs) of the SPE method were well within the performance criteria fixed by the Regulation n. 836/2011, namely 0.3 and 0.9 μg/kg, respectively.     

Retention behavior of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in microcolumn liquid chromatography with acridine derivative as stationary phase

Retention behavior of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on an acridine derivative stationary phase was examined in microcolumn liquid chromatography. 3,6-Bis(dimethylamino)-10-dodecylacridinium was electrostatically introduced into a cation-exchanger, and its selectivity was compared with that of octadecylsilyl-bonded silica gel. The former stationary phase provided smaller retention for non-planar PAHs than that achieved by the latter stationary phase. The results suggest that interaction between PAHs and the acridinyl ring dominates the retention of PAHs, and preferential retention of planar PAHs is attributed to the fact that they have more chance to interact with the acridinyl ring of the stationary phase than non-planar PAHs.     

Molecular shape recognition capability of liquid-crystal bonded phases in reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography

Summary The chromatographic retention behaviour of two liquidcrystal bonded phases have been evaluated using polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as the probe samples in reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The results clearly indicate that these phases have better planarity and shape recognition capabilities than commercially-avaialble polymeric octadecylsilica (ODS) phases whose strong planarity and shape selectivities were found earlier. It can also be concluded from the chromatographic observations that the shape recognition capability of these phases is dependent on both mobile phase composition and column temperature, but that the effect of mobile phase and temperature on the shape selectivity work independently. The retention behaviour can be explained by changes in the phase structure with changes of eluent composition and temperature.     

Factors affecting the retention of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in gas chromatography

Summary The retention index of a planar polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon on the GC phases OV-101, SE-52, and OV-17 is strictly related only to the boiling point, and less closely to the relative molecular mass. The very approximates relation with connectivity index ins only a consequence of the latter. On a nematic lqiuid crystal phase, a variation of activity coefficient, expressed in terms of a shape factor, also influences the retention of PAH.     

An off-line two-dimensional analytical procedure for determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in smoke aerosol

Smoke aerosol from stoves consists of a wide variety of chemical substances of which a number have toxic properties. To study the impact of aerosol emissions on health and environment reliable analytical procedures must be available for these samples. An off-line two-dimensional HPLC method is described for the determination of a number of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). The method consists of a HPLC clean-up step yielding distinct fractions on activated silica and followed by analysis of each of the fractions by isocratic reversed phase HPLC. Detection is by UV and fluorescence monitors in series. Combination of the chromatographic data obtained from both the clean-up and analytical step provides additional qualitative information.     

Chromatographic separation of benzo(a)pyrene isomers on nematic liquid crystal GC and polymeric reversed-phase HPLC phases

Summary The use of two nematic liquid crystals (BABT and BPhBT) as GC stationary phases for the separation of monohydroxybenzo(a)pyrenes. as their TMS ethers, and monomethylbenzo(a)pyrenes was developed and compared with the separation of these isomers by HPLC using a polymeric ODS reversed-phase column. It was found that while HPLC and GC gave comparable separation of the hydroxy isomers, 10 out of 12 separated, better separation of the methyl isomers was obtained using HPLC. A simultaneous use of both HPLC and GC would resolve the twelve hydroxy isomers in about 70min. The results indicated that HPLC, using polymeric reversed-phase columns, is as powerful a tool as GC using nematic liquid crystal phases, for the separation of benzo(a)pyrene isomers. A discussion of the effect of solute length-to-breadth ratio on elution order is presented.Presented in part at the 1981 Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, Atlantic City, NJ; paper No. 51.     

Separation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with a C60 bonded silica phase in microcolumn liquid chromatography

A chemically bonded C₆₀ silica phase was synthesized as a stationary phase for liquid chromatography (LC) and its retention behavior evaluated for various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) using microcolumn LC. The results indicate that the C₆₀ bonded phase offers selectivity different from that of octadecylsilica (ODS) bonded phases in the separation of isomeric PAHs. With the C₆₀ phase, PAH molecules having a partial structure similar to that of the C₆₀ molecule, e.g. triphenylene and perylene, were retained longer than with ordinary ODS stationary phases. The results also show that good correlation exists between the retention data with this C₆₀ bonded phase and with C₆₀ itself as the stationary phase.     

A new interface for coupling solid phase microextraction with liquid chromatography

A modified Rheodyne 7520 microsample injector was used as a new solid phase microextraction (SPME)–liquid chromatography (LC) interface. The modification was focused on the construction of a new sample rotor, which was built by gluing two sample rotors together. The new sample rotor was further reinforced with 3 pieces of stainless steel tubing. The enlarged central flow passage in the new sample rotor was used as a desorption chamber. SPME fiber desorption occurred in static mode. But all desorption solvent in the desorption chamber was injected into LC system with the interface. The analytical performance of the interface was evaluated by SPME–LC analysis of PAHs in water. At least 90% polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were desorbed from a polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/C18 bonded fuse silica fiber in 30 s. And injection was completed in 20 s. About 10–20% total carryovers were found on the fiber and in the interface. The carryover in the interface was eliminated by flushing the desorption chamber with acetonitrile at 1 mL min⁻¹ for 2 min. The repeatability of the method was from 2% to 8%. The limit of detection (LOD) was in the mid pg mL⁻¹ range. The linear ranges were from 0.1 to 100 ng mL⁻¹. The new SPME–LC interface was reliable for coupling SPME with LC for both qualitative and quantitative analysis.     

Development of a sample preparation procedure of sewage sludge samples for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons based on selective pressurized liquid extraction

An automated, simple and sensitive method based on selective pressurized liquid extraction (SPLE) was developed for the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sewage sludge samples. The new sample preparation procedure consists of on-line clean-up by inclusion of sorbents in the extraction cell, and combines elevated temperatures and pressures with liquid solvents to achieve fast and efficient removal of target analytes from complex sewage sludge matrices. The effects of various operational parameters (e.g. sample pretreatment, extraction solvent, temperature, pressure, static time, etc.) on the performance of SPLE procedure were carefully investigated, obtaining the best results when SPLE conditions were fixed at 140 °C, 1500 psi, static time of 5 min and n-hexane as extraction solvent. A new programmed temperature vaporization–gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method based on large volume injection (PTV–LVI–GC–MS/MS) was also developed and analytical determinations were performed by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection and GC–MS/MS. The extraction yields for the different compounds obtained by SPLE ranged from 84.8% to 106.6%. Quantification limits obtained for all of these studied compounds (between 0.0001 and 0.005 μg g⁻¹, dry mass) were well below the regulatory limits for all compounds considered. To test the accuracy of the SPLE technique, the optimized methodology was applied to the analysis of a certified reference material (sewage sludge (BCR088)) and a reference material (sewage sludge (RTC-CNS312-04)), with excellent results.     

Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in fractions in asphalt mixtures using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization

An analytical method using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in asphalt fractions has been developed. The 14 compounds determined, characterized by having two or more condensed aromatic rings, are expected to be present in asphalt and are considered carcinogenic and mutagenic. The parameters of the atmospheric pressure chemical ionization interface were optimized to obtain the highest possible sensitivity for all of the compounds. The limits of detection ranged from 0.5 to 346.5 μg/L and the limits of quantification ranged from 1.7 to 1550 μg/L. The method was validated against a diesel particulate extract standard reference material (NIST SRM 1975), and the obtained concentrations agreed with the certified values. The method was applied to asphalt samples after its fractionation according to ASTM D4124 and the method of Green. The concentrations of the seven polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons quantified in the sample ranged from 0.86 mg/kg for benzo[ghi]perylene to 98.32 mg/kg for fluorene.