Development of a magnetic solid-phase extraction coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry method for the...

Semivolatile organic compounds are a category of organic micropollutants including phthalate esters, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and so on, which are commonly analyzed by solid-phase extraction followed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. In this work, a highly sensitive and feasible method of magnetic solid-phase extraction combined with gas chromatography with mass spectrometry was established for the determination of semivolatile organic compounds in water. The novel method was based on a permanent magnetic resin with uniform particle size and high surface area (1154.3 m² /g). The results demonstrated that the extraction efficiency of the resin was superior to that of a C₁₈ cartridge. The method was proved to be of satisfactory recoveries (75-115.7%) and limits of detection and quantification (0.063-6.524 and 0.212-21.745 μg/L, respectively). The method was applied to the analysis of semivolatile organic compounds in the midstream Huai River. It was observed that polychlorinated biphenyls exceeded current water standards. To further illustrate the potential effects on human health, health risk assessment was conducted based on the obtained data. The existence of health risk was proved, with hexachlorobenzene and 2,2',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl as the major causes. The method possesses the characteristics of high efficiency and rapid analysis, offering a good prospect of applications in large quantities of practical water.