Study of passive sampling of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in gas phase using Amberlite XAD resins as filling materials of semipermeable membranes

In this work, a study was performed to evaluate the use of Amberlite XAD resins (XAD-2, XAD-4 and XAD-16), for the first time, as filling materials for low-density polyethylene membranes, which will be inserted as passive samplers for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in gas phase. The use of samplers deployed for 48 h evidenced a relative capability to retain the compounds under study. A detailed study was performed to evaluate the recovery of analytes from the sampler through microwave-assisted extraction by using acetonitrile. A clean-up step using alumina-C18 cartridges was necessary before determination of the PAHs by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. The limits of detection were of the order of μg L− 1 with relative standard deviation values that varied from 1 to 16% as a function of the compound and the XAD resin employed. Amberlite XAD resins can be considered an excellent alternative as filling material of semipermeable membrane devices for passive sampling of PAHs in air due to their low cost, ease of manipulation and suitable chemical and mechanical characteristics.