Simultaneous determination of “earthy-musty” odorous haloanisoles and their corresponding halophenols in water samples using solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography with electron-capture detection

Certain haloanisoles present at trace levels cause a large part of earthy-musty off-flavor problems in drinking water. These potent odorous chemicals come mainly through biomethylation of their corresponding halophenols. To enable the investigation of both families of compounds, a method involving solid-phase microextraction (SPME) was developed and the main parameters governing SPME were optimized. This method allows the simultaneous quantification of haloanisoles and halophenols at levels ranging from 1 to 100 or 250 ng/l, with detection limits of about 0.5 ng/l and could be applied to potable as well as raw surface waters.