Development of a Method for Target Screening of Organic Pollutants in Environmental Water by a Rapid Pretreatment Cartridge

Abstract

In recent years, the adverse effects on water environments due to organic pollutant leakage during disasters have been concerning. Therefore, it is important to conduct an emergency environmental survey to measure the pollution quickly. In this study, a rapid target screening method for organic pollutants in water environments has been developed. We have combined a rapid pretreatment cartridge with a database for GC/MS, which can measure approximately 1000 organic compounds. A sample (50 mL) added to 5 g of NaCl was extracted with 2 mL of dichloromethane containing internal standard substances for 1 min. Thereafter, the dichloromethane was collected in a glass vial, and then applied to the GC/MS measurement. The tested recoveries of 75 pesticides, using purified water, as well as river and sea water, were at acceptable levels compared with the target recovery rates (50-150 %). The analysis time of the developed rapid screening method was shorter than that of the conventional solid phase extraction method and liquid-liquid extraction methods, and the total time required for our analytical procedure was approximately 70 min. We have developed a target screening method that is promising for applications in both emergency pollution surveying and environmental monitoring.