Simultaneous determination of NSO-heterocycles, homocycles and their metabolites in groundwater of tar oil contaminated sites using LC with diode array UV and fluorescence detection

For monitoring groundwater at tar oil contaminated sites a simple method of analysis was developed for the simultaneous detection of several NSO heterocyclic compounds, homocyclic compounds, mobile two- and three-cyclic PAHs and selected metabolites. The groundwater samples are enriched using SPE with polymer material at pH 4. Chromatographic separation and detection is performed by LC with diode array UV or fluorescence detection. The recoveries of 25 selected compounds were mostly between 80–110% and the detection limits were 0.4–2.4 μg/L for UV detection and for the fluorescence detectable compounds 0.4–140 ng/L. The method was successfully applied to groundwater samples from a wood preserving facility. Especially benzo(b)thiophene showed an increasing dominance downgradient of the source. Detection of metabolites, such as 1-hydroxyiso-, 2-hydroxyquinoline and 2-hydroxy-4-methylquinoline, 2-naphthoic acid, and 1-indanone, indicating in situ biodegradation, was confirmed by LC-ESI–MS analysis.