ANALYSIS OF CHEMICAL WARFARE AGENTS IN WATER BY SOLID-PHASE EXTRACTION AND 2-CHANNEL CAPILLARY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY

Solid phase extraction with commercial C-18 cartridges has been applied to the analysis of some well known chemical warfare agents in water samples. Different sample pretreatment and cartridge conditioning procedures, and different extraction solvents were tested to study the optimum conditions for efficient extraction and recovery of the compounds of interest. The eluates were analyzed with a two-channel gas chromatograph equipped with an autosampler and a retention index monitoring system. The suitability of this technique for real samples is discussed: the rapid hydrolysis of many of the compounds studied and the poor recoveries of the polar degradation products are practical limitations of the method.