A Simple Extraction Method for Determination of High Molecular Weight Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Sediments by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

A simplified extraction method was developed for extracting high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from river sediments. The samples were extracted 3 times with 5 mL of solvent (toluene: methanol, 9: 1, v/v) at 100 degrees C, 10 minutes for each extraction. After clean-up and concentration, extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The extraction efficiency and accuracy was evaluated by the standard reference material (SRM-1941b). Comparing to certified values, the average recoveries of high molecular weight PAHs with 3, 4, 5 and 6 fused benzene rings were 72.9 similar to 113.2% (R.S.D. 2.3 similar to 6.3%) except those of dibenz[a,h]anthracene (206.2 +/- 4.6%). The average recoveries for PAHs spiked sediment samples were comparable with accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) and Soxhlet methods. The simple extraction method consumes less solvent, fewer amount of sample than those of conventional methods. The lowest quantitation limit of PAHs is 1.1 mu g/kg.