RAPID-DETERMINATION OF 1,4-DIOXANE IN WATER BY SOLID-PHASE EXTRACTIONAND GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

A highly sensitive and accurate gas chromatography-mass spectrometry m ethod for rapidly quantitative analysis of dioxane in water samples is described. Dioxane in water sample was extracted by hexane-methylene chloride (80:20, v/v) then transferred to a C-18 solid-phase extractio n (SPE) cartridge and eluted by acetonitrile. An aliquot of this solut ion was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with electron impact ionization and selected ion monitoring (dioxane m/z 88) mode. The quantitative limit was set to be 0.05 mu g/ml with an injection vo lume of 2 mu l and a sample volume of 1 ml. The isotopically labelled [H-2(8)]dioxane (m/z 96) was used as internal standard. Analysis time is approximately 6 min. The results for various kinds of SPE cartridge s in this method are also discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.