Trace naphthalenesulphonates determination in natural water samples

The presence of sulphonated derivatives of naphthalene was investigated in river, tap and bottled water samples, by means of HPLC with fluorescence de tection and GC-MS, after SPE pre-concentration and, in the case of GC-MS an alysis, derivatization. These methods showed detection limits in the low ng /L range, and were capable of providing spectroscopic information on the un known substances, which were of help for assessing the presence of target a nalytes in the examined samples. In particular, concentrations ranging from 8.9 to 220 ng/L of 2-naphthalenesulphonate were found in samples of the It alian rivers Po and Sangone, and concentrations of this same substance rang ing from 6 to 21 ng/L of were found also in the tap water of the city of To rino, part of which is collected from the river Po. The presence of 2-napht halenesulphonate at concentrations close to the detection limits of both an alytical techniques was also suspected in some samples of bottled water.