Bonded-Phase Extraction Column Isolation of Organic Compounds in Groundwater at a Hazardous Waste Site

Abstract

A procedure for Isolation of hazardous organic compounds from water for gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis Is presented and applied to creosote- and penta-chlorophenol-contaminated groundwater resulting from wood-treatment processes. This simple procedure Involved passing a 50-100-mL sample through a bonded-phase extraction column, eluting the trapped organic compounds from the column with 2-4 mL of solvent, and evaporating the sample to 100 μL with a stream of dry nitrogen, after which the sample was ready for gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis. Representative compounds Indicative of creosote contamination were used for recovery and precision studies from the cyclohexyl-bonded phase. Recovery of these compounds from n-octyl-, n-octadecyl-, cyclohexyl-, and phenyl-bonded phases was compared. The bonded phase that exhibited the best recovery and least bias toward acidic or basic cmpounds was the n-octadecyl phase. Detailed compound Identification Is given for compounds Isolated from Creosote- and pentachlorophenol-contaminated groundwater using the cyclohexyl-bonded phase. © 1984, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.