Method validation for quantification of anthracene and pyrene by UV-Vis spectroscopy: experimental and theoretical...

Among the many known polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), anthracene and pyrene are ubiquitously found in our global environment. PAHs are known to have persistent and present harmful health effects. However, their determination and precise quantification are tedious and require expensive and sophisticated methodologies such as GC-MS, HPLC, or mass spectrometry. The study presented here reports a simple and reproducible method which was developed and validated for the detection and quantification of the representative PAHs anthracene and pyrene in n-hexane solutions. In addition, anthracene and pyrene were extracted and quantified using experimental water standards of aqueous anthracene and pyrene and road dust samples from Jashore, Bangladesh, using the developed methodology. The results of this study validated the linearity, accuracy, precision, ruggedness, repeatability, and recoveries following ICH guidelines. The limits of detection (LOD) for anthracene and pyrene were 0.018 mg/L and 0.010 mg/L, respectively, with corresponding limits of quantification (LOQ) of 0.089 mg/L for anthracene and 0.020 mg/L for pyrene. The extraction data revealed that ~ 97.8% and 86.1% of the anthracene and pyrene were extracted from control aqueous samples. The experimental dust sample concentrations ranged from 14.0 to 98.0 mg/kg for anthracene and from 5.0 to 20.0 mg/kg for pyrene based on different sampling locations. The fluorescence intensities of anthracene and pyrene were used for their detection in different aqueous concentrations. The intensity decreases at elevated water to n-hexane fractions, indicating that at the higher water fractions, quenching occurs for both PAHs. Although it is not possible to estimate these two PAHs at very low concentrations, this developed method is nevertheless suitable for rapid detection and measurement of anthracene and pyrene in unknown samples.