β-Cyclodextrin induced coacervative extraction of 17-α –Estradiol from water and waste water samples followed by high performance liquid chromatographic determination

17-β-estradiol is an estrogenic hormone and is classified as endocrine disrupter chemicals (EDCs) which is very harmful environmental and food pollutants [1] In this study, a simple and rapid method for determination of 17-β-estradiol in water samples was investigated based on host-guest complexation between 17-β-estradiol and β-cyclodextrin followed by coacervative extraction and the subsequent determination by HPLC-UV. Effect of parameters such as concentration of decanoic acid (50-200 mg in 30 ml total volume) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) (1-15% v/v), β-cyclodextrin (βCD) concentration, ionic strength (0-1 M NaCl), pH (1-4) and extraction time (0-30 min) on recoveries and enrichment factors (EF) were investigated and optimized. The optimum condition for extraction was the stirring of 20 ml of water sample containing 50 mg of decanoic acid in3 ml of THF, 1:1 molar ratio 17-β-estradiol with β-cyclodextrin complex for 10 min and centrifugation (10 min, 4000 rpm). Recoveries and enrichment factors of 17-β-estradiol mainly depended on the amount of decanoic acid and THF making up the coacervates and were not affected by ionic strength of the sample solution. Recoveries, enrichment factors, LODs and relative standard deviations (RSD%) for 17-β-estradiol were between 95%, 284, 6.5 μg l-1 and 4.34%, respectively. This method was applied to determine 17-β-estradiol in tap water, mineral water, and waste water samples.