The determination of chlorophenols in waste water by capillary zone electrophoresis with an organic modifier

Summary Acapillary zone electrophoretic method has been optimized to improve selectivity and resolution in the analysis of chlorophenols in waste water. Use of a buffer system containing organic solvent dramatically improved the separation of chlorophenols. It was shown that selectivity was strongly affected by electrolyte pH and the presence of organic modifiers. The results show that the determination of all seventeen chlorinated derivatives of phenol in water can be achieved by use of a single organic modifier. For example, with acetone as organic modifier all 17 chlorophenols could be separated and determined within 20 min. The standard deviation of migration times and peak areas of the chlorophenols were in the ranges 0.48–0.67% and 3.9–5.1% respectively. Detection linear ranges covered two orders of magnitude of concentration with correlation coefficients of 0.998–1.000, except for 4-chlorophenol. Quantitative aspects of capillary zone electrophoresis are also discussed. It was concluded that capillary zone electrophoresis is a potential method for determination of chlorophenol pollutants in waste water.