SOLVING COELUTION PROBLEMS ON A SMECTIC LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE POLYSILOXANE CAPILLARY COLUMN FOR THE DETERMINATION OF PRIORITY POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS IN ENVIRONMENTAL-SAMPLES

A comparison of the separation efficiency of a liquid-crystalline poly siloxane capillary column (smectic phase) and a DB-5 column (5% phenyl -substituted methyl polysiloxane) is made for the analysis of the 16 U S Environmental Protection Agency polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PA Hs) and three isomeric, nonpriority PAHs (triphenylene, benzo[i]fluora nthene and dibenzo[a,c]anthracene) which have been shown to occur in e nvironmental samples. The three isomeric compounds which coelute on th e DB-5 column are well separated on the smectic phase. The analysis of a soil sample shows that some priority PAHs tend to be overestimated on DB-5 type columns. The smectic phase is therefore an attractive alt ernative for confirmation and correction of final quantitative results . (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.