Biomonitoring of environmental polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure bysimultaneous measurement of urinary phenanthrene, pyrene and benzo[a]pyrene hydroxides

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method with fluorescence detectio n was developed which enables the simultaneous determination of the urinary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites 3-hydroxyphenanthrene, 1-hydro xypyrene and 3-hydroxybenzo[a]pyrene. The method has small solvent consumpt ion because of the use of a microbore RP C-18 column and a relatively short run time. Low detection limits of 0.02 nmol/l for 3-hydroxypyrene to 0.19 nmol/l for 3-hydroxybenzo[a]pyrene were attained. In contrast, the detectio n limits of alpha-naphthol and 9,10-dihydroxy-9,10-dihydrophenanthrene were not adequate for the determination of environmental exposure. The develope d method was successfully used for the analysis of urine samples from child ren. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.