Polymer-coated hollow-fiber microextraction of estrogens in water samples with analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A novel sorbent, dihydroxylated polymethylmethacrylate (DHPMM), coated on hollow-fiber membrane, is used for the polymer-coated hollow-fiber microextraction of trace amounts of natural and synthetic estrogens, such as diethylstilbestrol, estrone, 17 beta-estradiol and 17 alpha-ethynylestradiol, in aqueous samples. In this procedure, estrogens were extracted using the functionalized polar DHPMM polymer with derivatization using N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometric analysis. The detection limits for estrogens in aqueous sample were between 0.03 and 0.8 ng 1(-1) and the calibration curves were linear over the concentration range 0.05-10 mu g 1(-1) and had correlation coefficients of > 0.994. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) were < 15% (n = 3). This simple, accurate, sensitive and selective analytical method is applicable to the determination of trace amounts of estrogens in reservoir and potable water samples. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.