Determination of carbonyl compounds in water by derivatization–solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatographic analysis

The solid-phase microextraction (SPME) technique was evaluated for the determination of 23 carbonyl compounds in water. The carbonyl compounds in water were derivatized with o-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)-hydroxylamine hydrochloride (PFBHA), extracted with SPME from liquid or headspace and analyzed by GC with electron capture detection (GC–ECD). The effects of agitation techniques and the addition of salt (NaCl) on extraction, the absorption–time and absorption–concentration profiles were examined. The precision of the SPME technique for the determination of carbonyl compounds was evaluated with spiked bidistilled water, ozonated drinking water, and rain water. The relative standard deviations obtained from different spiked water matrix were similar, and in the range of 5.7–21.1%. The precision can be further improved by using an internal standard. With 4 ml of water sample, the limits of detection for most of the tested carbonyl compounds using liquid or headspace SPME–GC–ECD were similar and in the range of 0.006–0.2 μg/l, except for glyoxal and methylglyoxal, which showed low sensitivity when using headspace SPME. In the analysis of an ozonated drinking water sample, the SPME techniques gave comparable results to those of the conventional liquid–liquid extraction method.