Clean-up with Sulphuric Acid Prior to the Gas Chromatographic Determination of Phthalate Esters

摘要

A clean-up procedure facilitating the determination of phthalate esters in water, sediment, and fish tissues is reported. The method is based upon the differential solubility of phthalate esters in sulphuric acid, hexane, and hydrated sulphuric acid. About 20 times less solvent was needed for the described method compared with that needed for the Florisil clean-up. Background levels of phthalates were reduced by a factor of about 10. The recovery of DBP and DEHP ranged from 56 to 113; a fatty extract was as easy to handle as a water sample and they resulted in comparable recoveries. The method allowed a complete separation of PCBs from the phthalates.