[Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in airborne particles by microwave extraction-high performance...

A method by using microwave extraction and high performance liquid chromatography was developed to determine polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in airborne particles. The glass/quartz fiber filter, on which particles adsorbed, was extracted with a mixed solvent n-hexane/acetone (1:1, v/v) using microwave, and the subsequent purification of the extract was carried out by a florisil cartridge. The prepared sample was determined by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array (PDA) and fluorescence dual-detector. The target compounds showed good linearity between the mass concentration of 20.0 μg/L and 500 μg/L, with the correlation coefficients not less than 0.9960. The spiked recoveries of target compounds in blank filter ranged from 56.3%-101%. The current method has been applied to investigate the distribution of PAHs in airborne particles in Nanjing City.