On-line coupling of equilibrium-sorptive enrichment to gas chromatography to determine low-molecular-mass pollutants in environmental water samples

On-line combination of equilibrium sorptive enrichment and gas chromatograp hy is used for the analysis of a group of pollutants varying widely in pola rity and volatility in aqueous samples at trace levels. For the ESE process open-tubular traps were used. The newly developed hyphenated method shows a high sensitivity for all the compounds under study. The detection limits were typically between 0.1 and 1 mu g/l. The sample volumes required for th e compounds to reach equilibrium with the stationary phase are in the range of 20 ml for the aromatic hydrocarbons included in the study (benzene, tol uene and p-xylene), to 200 ml for epichlorohydrin and dichlorohydrin. Withi n- and between-day precision of the absolute peak areas varied between 3 an d 16%. The performance of the new method was tested by the analysis of diff erent environmental water samples. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All right s reserved.