DETERMINATION OF NONYLPHENOLS AS PENTAFLUOROBENZYL DERIVATIVES BY CAPILLARY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH ELECTRON-CAPTURE AND MASS-SPECTROMETRICDETECTION IN ENVIRONMENTAL MATRICES

Procedures for the trace level determination of nonylphenols, the toxi c and final refractory metabolites of polyethoxylated nonylphenol, in sewage sludge and river and coastal sediments were developed. Soxhlet extracts of freeze-dried samples are cleaned up through a neutral alum ina column, derivatized with pentafluorobenzyl bromide and determined by capillary GC with electron-capture detection and/or electron impact and negative-ion chemical ionization MS. The detection limits achieve d by the two capillary GC-MS techniques in the selected-ion monitoring were, respectively, 10 and 2.7 pg (absolute) and 1.4 and 0.3 pg/g (fo r a 10-g sample).