Solid-phase extraction of several phthalate esters from environmental water samples on a column packed with polytetrafluoroethylene turnings.

A method for the determination of several phthalate esters in water samples using solid-phase extraction coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography was developed. A polytetrafluoroethylene turnings packed column was used as a SPE adsorbent material. The analytes were sorbed on polytetrafluoroethylene turnings, from which they were eluted by a small amount of acetonitrile, followed by a RP-HPLC-UV analysis. Detection limits (3sigma) of 4.7, 3.1, 3.6, 4.3, and 5.8 ng mL(-1) for di-n-butyl-phthalate, di-cyclohexyl-phthalate, di-n-octyl-phthalate, di-n-nonyl-phthalate and di-iso-decyl-phthalate, respectively, were achieved. Acceptable recovery results (92.1-127.5%) were obtained on five phthalate esters spiked samples.