Sorption of phenols to dissolved organic matter investigated by solid phase microextraction

The sorption of phenol and different halogenated phenols to natural organic matter of a brown water lake (HO14), of a compost extract, of Aldrich humi c acid (Aldrich-HA), and to the protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) was inve stigated using solid phase microextraction (SPME). The limit of determinati on for the SPME analysis was < 15 mu g/l for all phenols investigated. The extraction coefficients K-F were calculated according to a first-order extr action kinetics. In general, the extraction equilibrium was established fas ter due to the presence of dissolved organic matter (DOM). The highest sorp tion capacity of phenols was observed for BSA with log K-OC values in the r ange between 2 and 6. For the compost extract and HO14 only a small sorptio n of the investigated phenols was determined. On the other hand, Aldrich hu mic acid showed a reasonable sorption of phenols with log K-OC values betwe en 2 and 3. The sorption to DOM decreased when the pH of the solution was i ncreased. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.