Mp. Llompartvizoso et al., GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHIC HEADSPACE ANALYSIS OF PHENOL AND CRESOLS IN SOILSBY DIRECT ACETYLATION, HRC. Journal of high resolution chromatography, 19(4), 1996, pp. 207-212
A quick, simple and selective procedure has been developed for the det
ermination of phenol, o-cresol, m-cresol, and p-cresol in soil samples
. The method is based on the gas chromatographic headspace analysis of
phenols as acetate derivatives. These acetates were prepared directly
in the wetted soil samples by acetic anhydride in the presence of KHC
O3. With this procedure sample handling is reduced to a minimum as des
orption and derivatization of the analytes are developed from the wett
ed samples inside the vial of the head space sampler. The acetate este
rs were analyzed using a 60 m x 0.56 mm DIIDP capillary column (di-iso
decyl-phthalate), using 2-chlorophenol as an internal standard. The de
tection limit was between 0.03-0.08 mu g g(-1) for the different speci
es considered. Soil samples having carbon contents lower than 5% can b
e analyzed by the proposed procedure.