Abstract
A gas chromatographic method for the determination of trace amounts of some chloro- and nitrophenols is reported. Direct acetylation of chloro- and nitrophenols is carried out by adding acetic anhydride to large volumes of an alkaline aqueous solution of phenols. The stable acetate esters formed improve chromatographic characteristics and also provide for near quantitative extraction using small volumes of methylene chloride. Relative retention times of nine acetates of phenols on 1% SP-1240 A are reported and seven derivatives have been separated. The increased extraction efficiency, short extraction time and small volume of organic solvent used are some of the attractive features of this method in comparison to currently used methods.