Headspace Membrane-Protected Liquid Phase Microextraction of Phenanthrene in Beverage and Water

Contamination of low molecular weights polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is common in beverage and water. This could pose a health risk to those beverage lovers when they consume the products. Phenanthrene (PHE) is one of the low molecular weights PAHs that consists of three benzene rings in the molecular structure. In this study, PHE was chosen as the model analyte due to its mid-volatility behavior. A headspace membrane-protected liquid phase microextraction (HS-MP-LPME) combined with high performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection (HPLC-FD) has been developed for the analysis of PHE in beverage and water samples. The nylon membrane containing 1-octanol as the extractant was exposed to the headspace of the sample vial containing 25 mL of sample solution. The extraction was performed at its optimal conditions with sample temperature fixed at 60 degree Celsius, agitation set at 700 rpm and extraction conducted for 30 minutes. Under these optimal extraction conditions, the HS-MP-LPME-HPLC-FD offered ultra-trace detection of PHE and insignificant matrix effects in beverages (green tea and coffee) and water (river, sea and tap) samples with average of relative recovery in the range of 83.7 to 116.1 %. The HS-MP-LPME simplifies the routine analysis and resolves the extractant dissolution problem that commonly occurs in hollow fiber-protected LPME. The proposed technique consumes only minimal amounts of organic solvent (200 μL) and this indirectly supports our National Green Technology Policy: together we create a better tomorrow. (author)