Preconcentration of contaminants in water analysis

Among the environmental areas, in this review attention will be focused on water matrices and both on organic (e.g., pesticides, herbicides, phenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), inorganic species and anion pollutants, since these kinds of substances include a wide number of compounds with dif ferent physical and chemical properties and different effects on human heal th. Analytical methods for control of quality of waters are required to be highly specific and possibly highly sensitive for the determination of even low amounts of pollutants. The main problems encountered during the analys is are the separation of matrix components from the pollutants of interest and the achievement of low detection Limits. Therefore an overview on diffe rent materials and techniques available for sample concentration and/or mat rix removal will be provided and discussed according to the chemical charac teristics of the pollutant that has to be enriched. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scien ce B.V. All rights reserved.