Supported liquid membrane enrichment studies of natural water samples applied to liquid chromatographic determination of triazine herbicides

A method for sample work-up and enrichment using Supported Liquid Membrane (SLM) and liquid chromatographic determination of triazine herbicides in natural waters was investigated. A porous PTFE membrane was impregnated with a water immiscible organic solvent, forming a barrier between two aqueous phases. With a flowing donor and a stagnant acceptor solution, an enrichment of the triazines was obtained. The various factors that influence the extraction efficiency and selectivity of the extraction procedure were experimentally studied. The obtained results were in good agreement with the developed theoretical model. The pH of the acceptor solution was found to be the critical limiting factor in obtaining higher extraction efficiencies and led to an extraction efficiency decrease with an increase in enrichment time. By increasing both the trapping capacity of the acceptor solution and the donor flow rate, the method detection limit of the triazines ranged from 0.03 to 0.16 mu gL(-1) in natural waters with 20 minutes extraction time.