title: Rapid determination of sulfonated naphthalenes and their formaldehyde condensates in aqueous environmental samples using synchronous excitation fluorimetry.
abstract: Sulfonated naphthalenes and their formaldehyde condensates (SNFC) were determined in aqueous environmental samples by spectrofluorimetry. A clean-up step using n-hexane to extract possibly interfering nonpolar compounds such as naphthalene is the only preparatory procedure. Synchronous excitation mode with a gammalambda of 105 nm allows the determination of SNFC in environmental samples without additional clean-up or analyte enrichment. Interferences by humic acids and nitrate occurred only at concentrations higher than 1 mg C L(-1) and 10 mg NO3- L(-1), respectively. The limit of detection was 0.2 microg L(-1), the average recovery was 104% and the confidence interval (95% certainty) was 24%. The response factor for the quantitative determination of total SNFC, depending on the distribution of the different SNFC components, was validated for groundwater from two field sites using an HPLC-FD (fluorescence detection) method as a reference method.
authors.affiliation: Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG), Dübendorf.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ruckstuhl
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Suter
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Giger
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D009281:Naphthalenes / Q000032:analysis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D009281:Naphthalenes; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical