Determination of diethylhexyl phtalate in water by solid phase microextraction coupled to high performance liquid chromatography

Difficulties detected in the determination of the diethylhexylphthalate (DEHP) at trace levels by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) using SPME, due to its ubiquitous distribution in the environment has been overcome and a new method for the determination of DEHP in drinking water has been proposed. The method is based on solid phase microextraction (SPME) coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Detection was carried out spectrophotometrically. Calibration graph was linear in the range 10–110 μg/L with a regression coefficient of r2 = 0.998 and a detection limit of 0.6 μg/L. The relative standard deviation was 5 and 2% (n = 4) for chromatographic areas and retention times, respectively. The usefulness of the SPME–HPLC technique was confirmed.