Analysis of n-alkanes at sub microgram per liter level after direct solid phase microextraction from aqueous samples

This work describes the application of the previously presented solid phase microextraction (SPME) fiber in direct mode for sampling of C-10 - C-20 n-alkanes from aqueous solution. The fiber has simple composition and is constructed from activated charcoal:PVC suspension in tetrahydrofuran. When the composition of the fiber was optimized that the optimum composition was 90: 10 (activated charcoal:PVC) for direct mode, whereas it was 75:25 for sampling from the headspace of aqueous samples. This fiber is completely stable in contact with water. The extraction efficiency is improved in the presence of 0.1 M NaCl. The value is between 17.8 - 38.5% for the first extraction, which better than the efficiency of similar commercial fibers. After seven extractions, all analytes are removed from the aqueous samples nearly 100%. Single fiber repeatability and fiber-to-fiber reproducibility are good and both are less than 13% for all studied alkanes. Finally, direct mode SPME was used in the determination of n-alkanes in the range of sub mug L-1 without any additional preconcentration procedure. Gas chromatography along with flame ionization detection were used for separation and detection of the studied analytes.