Solid phase extraction applied to natural waters: efficiency and selectivity

Organic matter strongly influences the behaviour of dissolved metals in nat ural waters. A complete understanding on the nature of these compounds, req uires their isolation. The most recently used extraction procedure is rever se-phase liquid chromatography, or solid phase extraction (SPE), by which r esins are supposed to retain hydrophobic dissolved material. However, no st udies have been done coupling this method with sequential tangential ultraf iltration (STUF). For this purpose two types of ultrafiltered natural sampl es from the Amazonian River system were used. First, to determine if these two extractive methods are complementary, and second, to compare the effici ency of two SPE methods according to particle size, and amount. (C) 2000 El sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.