Monitoring of aminophenol isomers in surface water samples using a new HPLC method.

A new HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous determination of aminophenol isomers by means of a mixed-mode stationary phase containing both SCX and C18 moieties. All factors influencing the separation were discussed and optimized. The chromatographic conditions for the separation of aminophenols are the stationary phase duet SCX/C18, the mobile phase of aqueous phosphate buffer (pH 4.85):methanol = 85:15 (v/v) delivered with a flow rate of 1 mL/min and a detection at 285 nm. The method proposed was validated in terms of linearity, limits of detection and quantification, accuracy and precision. The HPLC method elaborated here was applied with good results on river water samples. In order to survey the quality of surface rivers entered in treatment plants which deliver water for Bucharest, two major rivers were included in a monitoring program which last more than 1 year.