SEPARATION OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS BY MICELLAR ELECTROKINETIC CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH AQUEOUS SHORT-CHAIN ALCOHOL SOLVENT

Micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MEKC) with aqueous o rganic solvent has been developed to separate polycyclic aromatic hydr ocarbons (PAHs). Methanol, ethanol or propanol as an organic modifier was added to sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micellar solution in order t o increase the solubility of very hydrophobic solutes in mobile phase. Both methanol and ethanol can be used as co-solvents for the separati on of PAHs. Use of ethanol resulted in a shorter analysis time than us e of methanol. The separations of some PAHs were unsatisfactory using propanol although the analysis time was much shorter than with ethanol . The influence of ethanol content, SDS concentration and temperature on the separations was studied. Benzene and nine polycyclic aromatic h ydrocarbons were successfully separated using 50 mM SDS-20 mM phosphat e-5 mM berate, containing 40% (v/v) ethanol at 35 degrees C. The relat ive standard deviation (R.S.D.) of t(R) ranged from 0.5 to 1.5% for si x repeat injections. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserve d.