Determination of priority pollutant phenols in water by HPLC

A liquid chromatographic method capable of identifying ng/l quantities of phenolic compounds in water is described. The separation was accomplished by using a MicroPak 5 mu C18 column with an acetic acid/water/acetonitrile eluent. Dual UV detection provided confirmatory information. A two-step extraction with methylene chloride utilizing a cationic ion-pair reagent was developed to concentrate the phenols from the water samples. The extraction method had recoveries that exceeded 90% for all phenols studied with the exception of phenol itself, which had a recovery of 75%. An application of the ion-pair extraction-HPLC method to water analysis is presented.