Continuous-flow microextraction and gas chromatographic–mass spectrometric determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds in water

A new method of the determination polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water samples was developed by continuous-flow microextraction (CFME) coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). In this experiment, 15 mL sample solution with no salt-added was flowed at the rate of 1.0 mL min−1 through 3 μL benzene as extraction solvent. Under the optimal extraction conditions, the developed method was found to yield a linear calibration curve in the concentration range from 0.05 to 15 ng mL−1. Furthermore, the accuracy and repeatability of the method were good by calculating from water samples spiked at known concentrations of PAHs, and the recovery of optimal method was satisfactory. The results showed that CFME was an efficient preconcentration method for extraction of PAHs from spiked water samples.