Development of high internal phase emulsion polymeric monoliths for highly efficient enrichment of trace polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from large-volume water samples.

Rihui Su, Guihua Ruan, Honggang Nie, Ting Xie, Yanjie Zheng, Fuyou Du, Jianping Li

Index: J. Chromatogr. A. 1405 , 23-31, (2015)

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Abstract

In this work, polymerized high internal phase emulsion (polyHIPE) monoliths were prepared and applied as monolithic adsorbent materials for proconcentration of trace polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from large-volume water samples. The monolithic polyHIPE columns were prepared by in situ polymerization of the continuous phase of a high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) containing styrene (STY), divinylbenzene (DVB) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) in pipette tips, and the resulting STY/DVB/GMA polyHIPE monoliths exhibited highly interconnected porosity and large surface areas, making them excellent candidates as adsorbents for enrichment of trace aromatic compounds. The prepared STY/DVB/GMA polyHIPE monoliths were applied to the determination of trace PAHs in environmental water samples by combing with high performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD). Under the optimized experimental conditions, the polyHIPE monoliths could effectively enrich trace 13 PAHs from 500mL of water samples, the mean recoveries at four spiked levels were ranged from 80.7% to 115.0% with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) lower than 14%, and the detection limits (LODs) were ranged from 4.0 to 228pg/L. In addition, the prepared polyHIPE monolith was stable enough for more than 200 replicate extraction cycles without measurable loss of performance on the enrichment of PAHs, and good column-to-column repeatability was obtained with RSD less than 13%. The proposed method was applied to simultaneous analysis of 13 PAHs in water samples with satisfactory recoveries. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.