Abstract
A derivative spectrofluorometry was studied for the determination of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in river sediment. The method includes a sample preparation, a ultra sonic extraction, a separation by a one-dimensional dual band thin-layer chromatography, and a measurement on a recording derivative spectrofluorometer. The existence of benzo (a) pyrene (BaP), chrysene (Chry), benzo (k) fluoranthene (BkF), benz (a) anthracene (BaA), perylene (Pery), pyrene (Py), and benzo(ghi)perylene (BghiP) were confirmed in river sediments. The following instrumental conditions were satisfactory for the determination: scanning speed, 60 nm/min; substance (order of derivative, n; increment in differentiation, Δλ); BaP (n = 4; Δλ=3 nm); Chry, BkF, Py, and BghiP(n=4; Δλ=2 nm); BaA(n=4; Δλ=4nm); Pery(n=2; Δλ=2nm). The detection limits were 0.04 ng/ml for BaP, 0.05 ng/ml for Chry, 0.07 ng/ml for BkF, 0.05 ng/ml for BaA, 0.04 ng/ml for Pery, 0.2 ng/ml for Py, and 0.04 ng/ml for BghiP. The derivative-spectrofluorometric method gave the analytical results which were in good agreement with the narrow base line method, and offered the following advantages over the latter method: 1) lower interference from the impurities, 2) at least twice as high detection sensitivity, 3) simplified data treatment. The proposed method is useful for the routine analysis of PAH in river sediments.
