Analysis for Phthalate Esters in Environmental Samples: Separation from PCB's and Pesticides Using Dual Column Liquid Chromatography

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Abstract
A method was developed which allows phthalate esters (PE's) to be determined in environmental samples along with PCBs and several organochlorine pesticides, using a single sample extract. The extract is fractionated by dual column liquid chromatography (LC) into four fractions prior to analysis by GC/ECD. This new LC fractionation scheme for PE's involves (a) elution from an alumina column with benzene (separation from PCBs and pesticides which are eluted with hexane) followed by (b) elution from silica gel by an acetone/benzene mixture (separation from interfering moderately polar organics). Selected GC conditions enable nine different PE's to be resolved sufficiently for quantitation. The observation that PE's exhibit a decrease in ECD response as the detector temperature increases was investigated, and an optimum temperature was selected. Analysis of soil, sediment, and landfill leachate samples using the new methods gave PE results comparable to other results on environmental samples.

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