The extraction and analysis of 1,4-dioxane from water using solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

In this study, two methods are developed for the extraction of 1,4-dioxane (dioxane) from water using 80-microm carboxen-polydimethylsiloxane solid-phase microextraction fibers followed by either gas chromatography (GC)-flame ionization detection (FID) or GC-mass spectrometry (MS). With GC-FID, the lower limit of detection (LOD) for 1,4-dioxane is 2.5 microg/L (ppb) with a linear range of 5 to 10,000 microg/L, obtained by immersing the fiber in the sample for 20 min with agitation. Using GC-MS, the lower limit of quantitation is 0.5 microg/L, and the LOD is 0.25 microg/L. The upper linear range limit is 100 microg/L. Samples are extracted in 20 min using either heated headspace with agitation or direct immersion with agitation.