Organic Compounds

Abstract

The low concentrations at which most organic compounds appear in water (typically 1:10- 10–10- 12) pose a number of significant challenges to the analytical scientist. These challenges relate to both sensitivity and selectivity of the analytical method and have generally required isolation/preconcentration steps to address the former and fractionation procedures to achieve the latter. Clearly, the ultimate ambition for analytical chemists is to achieve (near) real-time determination of all the compounds of interest in a particular situation with a minimum number of steps in the procedure. Multicompound, in situ probes are still some way off in most cases. Nevertheless, it is noticeable that in the past few years there has been significant progress in this direction through the exploitation of advances in sample extraction and detection (primarily hyphenated mass spectrometric techniques). It must be remembered that the analysis itself is rarely the primary goal. The need to measure the concentration of a compound or group of compounds is usually determined by its real or potential impact on the system in which it occurs. Many of the developments in recent analytical procedures relating to the analysis of organic compounds in water therefore derive from the presence of the compounds on lists of Priority Pollutants (e.g., US Environment Protection Agency list of 307 compounds or the UK Department of the Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs list of ‘Chemicals of Concern’), quality standards for drinking waters (e.g., disinfection byproducts), or because they have suspected deleterious effects (e.g., endocrine disrupting chemicals, EDCs). Modern....