Determination of trace amounts of alcohols and phenols in complex mixtures as ferrocenecarboxylic acid esters with gas chromatography atomic emission detection

A method for the derivatization of phenols and alcohols with ferrocenecarboxylic acid chloride to the corresponding esters is described, The esters are separated by capillary GC and detected by atomic emission in the iron-selective mode, thus ensuring detection limits of 150 fmol injected and high selectivity over non-iron-containing compounds, A crude oil (Brent, North Sea) is used as an example, without any sample preparation before the derivatization, and is shown to contain approximately 1 mu mol phenols g(-1).