Pressurised hot water extraction coupled on-line with liquid chromatography–gas chromatography for the determination of brominated flame retardants in sediment samples

Pressurised hot water extraction (PHWE) was coupled on-line with liquid chromatography–gas chromatography (LC–GC) to determine brominated flame retardants in sediment samples. After extraction with pressurised hot water the analytes were adsorbed in a solid-phase trap. The trap was dried with nitrogen and the analytes were eluted to the LC column, where the extract was cleaned, concentrated and fractionated before transfer to the GC system. The fraction containing the brominated flame retardants was transferred to the GC system via an on-column interface. The PHWE–LC–GC method was linear from 0.0125 to 2.5 μg with limits of detection in the range 0.70–1.41 ng/g and limits of quantification 6.16–12.33 ng/g.