Normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of phenols

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Chromatography

Background:

• Phenols and their derivatives are common environmental contaminants.
• Accurate quantification of phenols is crucial for environmental monitoring and safety.
• Existing methods may struggle with complex matrices containing hydrocarbons.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a robust method for separating and determining phenol and its monoderivatives.
• To establish a technique for quantifying trace amounts of phenols in aqueous solutions.
• To overcome challenges posed by the presence of aromatic hydrocarbons.

Main Methods:

• Normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (NP-HPLC) was employed.
• Silica gel (Silasorb 600) was used as the stationary phase.
• Selective eluents were prepared using multi-component mixtures of hexane with polar additives like butan-1-ol, chloroform, butyl bromide, butyl chloride, or diethyl ether.
• Phenols were pre-concentrated using n-butyl acetate extraction from aqueous samples.

Main Results:

• Successful separation of phenol and its monoderivatives (o-, m-, p-cresol isomers) was achieved.
• A method was developed for determining microamounts of phenols.
• The method demonstrated effectiveness in the presence of 160-fold excess of aromatic hydrocarbons.

Conclusions:

• Normal-phase HPLC offers an effective approach for phenol and derivative separation.
• The developed extraction and HPLC method allows for sensitive determination of phenols in complex aqueous matrices.
• This technique is valuable for environmental analysis and monitoring.