Determination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Soil and Bottom Sediments by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Using Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Microextraction

The problems and advantages of chromatographic methods for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in model and real samples of black soil (chernozem), sand, and bottom sediments of the Sea of Azov and the Kurchansky estuary are discussed. We substantiated and implemented sample preparation for analysis using dispersion liquid-liquid microextraction. PAH concentrations in soils of various types and bottom sediments were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The specific features of sample preparation of soil and bottom sediments are studied aimed at achieving the maximum recovery of PAHs into the organic phase; the composition of the extraction system and the conditions for the extraction of analytes are optimized; the optimal sample weight is selected. We proposed a gas chromatographic system with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS) for determining 20 PAHs in soil (bottom sediments). The limits of quantification for the studied PAHs in soils and bottom sediments were 0.2-0.5 mu g/kg. The optimized procedure for the GC-MS determination of PAHs was tested on real samples of bottom sediments of the Temryuk Bay of the Sea of Azov.