Determination of naphthalenesulfonates in water by on-line ion-pair solid-phase extraction and ion-pair liquid chromatography with fast-scanning fluorescence detection

A fast analytical method for quantifying a mixture of 12 naphthalenesulfonates and naphthalenedisulfonates has been developed. This method consists of on-line ion-pair solid-phase extraction with PLRP-s sorbent and ion-pair liquid-chromatography using fast-scanning fluorescence spectrometer as a detection system and multivariate calibration. As complete separation is unnecessary, the compounds were analysed in isocratic conditions and the chromatographic analysis took only 25 min. Three-way partial least-squares (PLS) was used to carry out multivariate calibration for spiked tap water. In these conditions, quantification limits were between 0.01 and 3 μg l−1. Repeatability was also evaluated and relative standard deviations (n=3) were between 0.5 and 4, depending on the compound. Finally, spiked tap and Ebro river waters were analysed to evaluate prediction capability of the method.