COLUMN SWITCHING FOR THE HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF POLYNUCLEAR AROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS IN PETROLEUM-PRODUCTS

Contact with polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons which are ubiquitous pollutants can lead to the induction of various cancers. The measurement of these substances is thus of prime importance. However, the complexity of many samples in which they may be found results in a long and difficult analysis. High-performance liquid chromatography, when used in conjunction with column-switching procedures, can realise the separation of specific analytes in complex mixtures such as petroleum products. The benefits are achieved by concentrating the analytical effort only on compounds of interest, while disregarding the rest. Optimum separations occur when different retention mechanism are combined within a configuration. However, the incompatibilities that arise due to the range of solvents used can present problems. To overcome these we have investigated the combination of cyclodextrin and reversed-phase bonded phases. The employment of these differing retention mechanisms permits the rapid determination of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons with no sample preparation or pretreatment, hence the analysis time is reduced significantly as is the risk of contamination of the laboratory personnel and environment.