Determination of sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in marine sediments by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence and ultraviolet detection

Abstract:

An analytical method based on liquid phase of fluorescence detector combined with UV detector has been developed for the simultaneous determination of sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in marine sediments. After being extracted with isopropanol, the extract was distilled with HLB column, then performed on HPLC with a Waters PAH C18 column (4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm), separated by gradient elution using a mixture of acetonitrile and water as mobile phase. The calibration curves were linear with correlation coefficient over 0.999. The average recoveries from spiked marine sediments at the 5 μg/kg and 10 μg/kg concentrations ranged from 72.6%~117%(n=6) with relative standard deviations less than 10％, and limits of detection(LOD) were 0.2~4.9 μg/kg. Some PAHs were found in six marine sediment samples collected from Dalian and Yantai areas. This method was validated to be accurate and sensitive for the analysis and risk assessment of PAHs in marine sediments.