Solid phase extractive preconcentration coupled to gas chromatography–atomic emission detection for the determination of chlorophenols in water samples

Solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by derivatization and gas chromatography-atomic emission detection (GC–AED) was evaluated for the determination of five chlorophenols (CPs) in water samples. The derivatization was based on the esterification of phenolic compounds with ferrocenecarboxylic acid. The determination of the derivatized phenols was performed by GC–AED in the iron selective detection mode at 302 nm. The described method was tested on spiked water samples.The overall method gave detection limits of 1.6–3.7 ng L−1 and recoveries of 90.9–104.5% for the examined mono- to trichlorophenols in 10 mL water samples. The CPs extracted from a 10 mL water sample with SPE were concentrated into 100 μL of organic solvent, a preconcentration factor of 100. The method was applied to lake and tap water samples, and CP contents between 6 and 51 ng L−1 in lake water and between below the detection limit and 8 ng L−1 in tap water were found for different CPs. The method is quick, simple and gives excellent recoveries, limits of detection and standard deviations.