Application of static and dynamic liquid-phase microextraction in the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Two modes of liquid-phase microextraction (LPME), static and semi-automated dynamic, have been developed for the HPLC analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In static LPME, a small drop (3 microl) of organic solvent was held at the tip of a microsyringe needle and exposed to the sample containing the analytes, permitting extraction to occur. In semi-automated dynamic LPME, a syringe pump was used to automate the repetitive procedure of filling a microsyringe barrel that functioned as a microseparatory funnel, with fresh aliquots of sample, and expelling them after extraction. The factors influential to both techniques such as the type of organic solvent, extraction time, sampling volume, number of samplings, salt concentration and temperature were investigated. Static LPME provided high enrichment (60- to 180-fold) and simplicity. The analytical data exhibited a relative standard deviation range of 4.7-9.0%. Dynamic LPME provided higher (>280-fold) enrichment within nearly the same extraction time (approximately 20 min) and better precision (< or = 6.0%). Both methods allow the detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at microg/l levels in water by HPLC. Water samples collected from two rivers were analyzed using the methods, respectively. The results demonstrated that both modes of LPME were fast, simple and accurate.