APPLICABILITY OF CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS WITH AMPEROMETRIC DETECTION TO STUDY DEGRADATION OF CHLOROPHENOLS IN CONTAMINATED SOIL

Details are presented for assembling an amperometric detector compatib le with commercial capillary electrophoresis (CE) instruments. The det ector assembled with a gold electrode achieves a sufficient sensitivit y in analyzing liquid extracts to enable determination of pentachlorop henol (PCP) in soils at 35 mg/kg (PCP/soil). The CE system equipped wi th amperometric detection is used to study the oxidation of chlorophen ols with eerie sulfate. The selected chlorophenols are completely oxid ized by eerie sulfate in 5 min and the eerie sulfate can be recovered and reused. The same CE system is also applied for monitoring the phot odegradation of PCP in contaminated soil, in the presence of titanium dioxide. Complete degradation of PCP, with no trace of electroactive p roducts, is achieved in 7 h. This study demonstrates that capillary el ectrophoresis can be an important technique for monitoring processes o f degradation and bioremediation.