title: Isolation of poly(propylene glycol)s from water for quantitative analysis by reversed-phase liquid chromatography.
abstract: Procedures for the isolation of poly(propylene glycol)s (PPGs) from a water matrix have been developed. Solid-phase extraction with an octadecylsilica cartridge and elution with methanol or with a graphitised carbon black cartridge and elution with a mixture of dichloromethane-methanol (4:1) or liquid-liquid extraction with chloroform were all suitable for model samples. However, only liquid-liquid extraction was suitable both for model and real environmental samples. Methods for reversed-phase liquid chromatographic determination of PPGs based on derivatisation and ultraviolet or fluorescence detection have been developed. Four derivatisation agents [3,5-dinitrobenzoyl chloride, phenyl isocyanate, 1-naphthoyl chloride and 1-naphthyl isocyanate (NIC)] were tested. Only NIC was found to give good reproducibility as well as a satisfactory detection limit. Finally, a method with liquid-liquid extraction with chloroform, derivatisation with NIC and liquid chromatographic separation with fluorescence detection was established. The developed method shows a highly correlated linearity of the analytical signals of particular homologues within a wide concentration range (approximately from 0.01 to 10 mg l(-1)). The precision of measurements is satisfactory for homologues having 5-9 oxypropylene subunits and becomes worse with an increase in the number of oxypropylene subunits. The limit of detection is 2 microg l(-1) for the majority of homologues. The method is suitable for the isolation and quantitative determination of PPGs in river water samples and as a tool for biodegradation testing.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Poznań University of Technology, ul. Piotrowo 3, 60-965 Poznań, Poland.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rychłowska
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zgoła
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Grześkowiak
authors.forename: Zenon
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lukaszewski
mesh_terms: D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D019946:Propylene Glycol / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D019946:Propylene Glycol