Triacontyl modified silica gel as a sorbent for the preconcentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aqueous samples prior to gas chromatographic-mass spectrometry determination

Triacontyl modified silica gel as a sorbent coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed to determine EPA prior 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water samples. Various parameters of solid-phase extraction such as organic modifier solvent, eluent, sample flow rate and volume were optimized. The developed method was found to yield a linear calibration curve in the concentration range of 0.05-8 μg/L with respect to naphthalene, acenaphthylene, acenaphthene and 0.01-8μg/L for dibenz[a,h]anthracene and 0.05-14 μg/L for fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene and 0.01-14 μg/L for the rest of analytes. Furthermore, the good accuracy and repeatability of the method made sure the requirements for achieving reliable analysis of PAHs in the environmental water samples, and the recoveries of optimal method were in the range of 80-120% except to higher volatility PAHs. C30-bonded silica was proved to be an efficient sorbent for extraction of high molecular weight PAHs.