Direct screening of water samples for benzene hydrocarbon compounds by headspace liquid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography.

The applicability of headspace liquid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography is evaluated for the expeditious and reliable screening of tap and drinking water samples for selected volatile organic compounds (viz., benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene isomers, BTEX). The method uses 3.5 microL of n-hexadecane as extraction solvent, 10 min extraction time with stirring at 1250 rpm, at 20 degrees C and 0.38 g/mL salt addition. The enrichment factors of this method are from 135 to 213. Limits of detection are in the range of 4.1-23.5 ng/L. The relative standard deviations at 0.05, 50, 200, and 400 microg/L of spiking levels are in the range of 0.61%-4.01%. Recoveries of six BTEX from drinking water at these spiking levels are between 95.4% and 104.4%.