Rapid determination of sulfonated naphthalenes and their formaldehyde condensates in aqueous environmental samples using synchronous excitation fluorimetry. |
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Authors: | S Ruckstuhl M J Suter W Giger |
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Institution: | Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG), Dübendorf. |
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Abstract: | Sulfonated naphthalenes and their formaldehyde condensates (SNFC) were determined in aqueous environmental samples by spectrofluorimetry. A clean-up step using n-hexane to extract possibly interfering nonpolar compounds such as naphthalene is the only preparatory procedure. Synchronous excitation mode with a gammalambda of 105 nm allows the determination of SNFC in environmental samples without additional clean-up or analyte enrichment. Interferences by humic acids and nitrate occurred only at concentrations higher than 1 mg C L(-1) and 10 mg NO3- L(-1), respectively. The limit of detection was 0.2 microg L(-1), the average recovery was 104% and the confidence interval (95% certainty) was 24%. The response factor for the quantitative determination of total SNFC, depending on the distribution of the different SNFC components, was validated for groundwater from two field sites using an HPLC-FD (fluorescence detection) method as a reference method. |
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