APPLICATION OF TLC AND GC-MS TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF AMINO-PAHS IN SEWAGE SLUDGES

Sludges from industrial and urban areas contain many highly toxic comp ounds, e.g. polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and their derivati ves, One group of nitrogen derivatives, the amino-PAH,has stronger mut agenic and carcinogenic activity than the parent PAH. The heterogenous and complex composition of sewage sludges makes their analysis very d ifficult. Isolation and identification of organic material in sewage s ludge is usually performed by a multistage process. Dimethylformamide extracts of the sludge were separated either by solid phase extraction (SPE) on silica gel or by classical column chromatography on aluminum oxide and silicic acid. This paper described studies on the use of re versed-phase thin-layer chromatography (TLC) to separate amino-PAHs fr om other polar compounds present in sludge extracts isolated by SPE. T he technique was also used to identify the amino-PAHs present in the s ewage sludge extracts. The data obtained by use of TLC were confirmed by GC-MS analysis of amino-PAH fractions isolated from extracts by col umn chromatography on alumina and silicic acid, Sewage sludges sampled from sewage-treatment plants in Upper Silesia, one of the most indust rialized regions of Poland, have been investigated. The dangerous to h uman health such as the amino-PAH derivatives aminophenylnaphthalene, aminopyrene and/or aminofluoranthene, aminoanthracene and/or aminophen anthrene, aminoquinoline and/or aminoisoquinoline were found in the se wage sludges investigated.