Determination of benzene derivatives in water by solid-phase microextraction

A solid-phase microextraction (SPME) technique was successfully applied to the analysis of benzene derivatives (aniline, m-nitroaniline, o- and p-cresol, o-, m- and p-dinitrobenzene) in water. Two kinds of fibre (poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) and polyacrylate (PARL) fibres) were used and compared. The effects of the structure and physical properties of the analytes, duration of absorption and desorption, temperature of absorption, storage time, pH, ionic strength and elutropic strength of samples were investigated. Much higher sensitivity and lower detection limits were achieved using a PARL fibre than those using a PDMS fibre. The detection limits were less than 5 ng/ml for most of the analytes, except for aniline (16 ng/ml) and o-dinitrobenzene (7 ng/ml).