Benzotriazoles are organic compounds and their use is widespread in various fields. As a consequence of their widespread use, they appear in the environment as pollutants. Various methods can be used to determine benzotriazoles in environmental matrices, such as SPE or solid phase extraction with liquid chromatography or gas chromatography. Recently, environmentally friendly methods have been developed. One of them is Hollow Fiber Microextraction (HFME). The method is simple, inexpensive and gives very pure extracts.
The aim of this study was to purify extracts of solid samples with HFME and to determine benzotriazoles by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
I performed HFME test and determined the enrichment factors (EF), the extraction was successful for all analytes. By the extraction of the soil extract, I found that the addition of a smaller amount (0.2 % in the sample solution) of EDTA solution significantly increased the enrichment factors of all analytes. For the extraction of the soil extract, I astimated that the limit of detection was 1 mg/kg. Then I determined the effect of acetone on the efficiency of the extraction and on the extraction of the soil extract. A small fraction of acetone had a positive effect on the extraction, with 0.5 % acetone in solution increasing the enrichment factor in all analytes. As the fraction of acetone increased, the enrichment factors decreased. Determination by HPLC followed. In the end I established whether determination of benzotriazoles in real samples with the chosen method is possible. In the samples of anaerobic and aerobic sludge from the biological treatment plant, I confirmed the presence of 4-hydroxy-1H-benzotriazole in both samples using the method of standard addition. Its concentration was at least 6.7 ng/g d.m. in the anaerobic sludge sample and at least 5.9 ng/g d.m. in the aerobic sludge sample.
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