Isolation of Organic Compounds from Water for Chemical Analysis and Toxicological Testing

Abstract

In most investigations on water quality it is not possible to determine the relationship between toxicological and chemical parameters as a consequence of different isolation and sample preparation techniques. A combined research made by the analytical-chemical and biological section of KIWA led to the development of a single isolation and sample preparation method for organic micropollutants in water, suitable for toxicological and chemical measurements as the Ames test, group parameters (OCl, ON, OS, OP), GC-MS [gas chromatography-mass spectrometry] and HPLC [high performance liquid chromatography]. An automated installation for the adsorption of volatiles to Tenax and of slightly-volatile and non-volatile compounds at pH 7, 2 and 9 to XAD-4 was built. Following adsorption the volatiles were thermically desorbed from the Tenax. The XAD columns were eluted with ethanol and an ethanol-cyclohexane mixture. The eluates were dried and concentrated by an azeotropic distillation. This procedure was automated.