TRACES DETERMINATION OF PHENOLS IN WATER BY SOLID-PHASE EXTRACTION FOLLOWED BY PENTAFLUOROBENZOYLATION

A simple and sensitive method for the trace determination of phenols i n water is presented. Phenols were extracted from water samples with s olid-phase extraction (SPE), and subsequently converted into pentafluo robenzoylates by reaction with pentafluorobenzoyl chloride in the pres ence of tetrabutylammonium bromide. The derivatives were determined by GC/ECD and GC/ITD-MS. Recoveries are better than those obtained with a conventional liquid-liquid extraction method for all phenols conside red including phenol, alkyl-, chloro-, bromo- and mononitro-phenols wi th a commercial styrene-divinyl-benzene (SDB) SPE cartridge in a 500-m l water sample. The detection limits for phenols are 3 to 20 ng/l with GC/ECD and 10 to 60 ng/l with GC/ITD-MS.