FLUOROMETRIC STUDY OF PCBS AND AROCLORS IN MICELLAR MEDIA - ANALYTICAL APPLICATIONS

Fluorescent characteristics of mono, di, tri, tetra, penta, hexa, hept a and octa chlorinated biphenyls, as well as typical commercial Aroclo rs, were studied in the presence of cationic, anionic, neutral surfact ants, alpha-cyclodextrin and beta-cyclodextrin. The enhancement of the fluorescence of one of these PCBs, 3,4,4'-Trichlorobiphenyl (TRCB), i n polyoxyethylene(10) laurylether (POLE) medium was used to establish a spectrofluorimetric method for the sensitive determination of TRCB. The optimization of variables such as the concentration of surfactant, percentage of organic solvent and temperature, as well as a study of the possible interferences of other PCBs and Aroclors was carried out. This method, which presented a detection limit of 4.9 ng ml(-1), has been applied to the determination of TRCB in sea water with acceptable percentages of recovery.