Organochlorine pesticide contamination of ground water in the city of Hyderabad

Preparation of single-walled carbon nanotube fiber coating for solid-phase microextraction of organochlorine pesticides in lake water and wastewater

The feasibility of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as adsorbents for solid-phase microextraction was investigated by using organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) as model compounds. SWCNTs were attached onto a stainless steel wire through organic binder. Potential factors affecting the extraction efficiency were optimized, including extraction time, extraction temperature, desorption time, desorption temperature, and salinity. The developed method has a linear range of 2-800 ng/L for most analytes, with coefficients of correlation ranging from 0.9911 to 0.9996, LODs ranged from 0.19 to 3.77 ng/L (S/N = 3), and RSDs in the range of 3.5-13.9% (n = 5). Compared with the commercial PDMS fiber, the SWCNT fiber has better thermal stability (over 350 degrees C) and longer life span (over 150 times). The developed method was applied to determine trace OCPs in lake water and wastewater samples with external standard calibration. Results showed that OCP contamination was very low in these samples, and HCHs were detected in almost all water samples while DDT concentrations were almost under detection limits in these samples. Recoveries obtained at 20 ng/L spiking level were in the range of 88.4-111% for OCPs in lake water. For wastewater samples, however, the recoveries were satisfactory for HCHs (63.6-97.1%) but relatively low for DDTs (44.7-116%) due to the high content of organic matter in wastewater.

Investigation of the feasibility of TiO2 nanotubes for the enrichment of DDT and its metabolites at trace levels in environmental water samples

TiO(2) nanotubes, novel nanomaterials synthesized from hydrothermal treatment, were investigated for being used as a new solid-phase extraction adsorbent with o,p'-DDT, [1,1,1-trichloro-2-(o-chlorophenyl)-2-(p-chlorophenyl)ethane, p,p'-DDT, [1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane] and its principle metabolites p,p'-DDD, [1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane] and p,p'-DDE [1,1-(2,2-dichloro-ethanylidene)-bis(4-chlorobenzene)] as the target analytes. Several factors such as eluant and its volume, the sample pH, sample volume and the flow rate of samples, were optimized. The effect of humic acid, which is often present in natural water system, was also investigated. Under the optimal conditions, lower detection limits of 0.0031, 0.0037, 0.0053 and 0.0025 ng mL(-1) for p,p'-DDD, p,p'-DDT, o,p'-DDT and p,p'-DDE, respectively, were obtained. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of the target compounds in several environmental water samples. Good recoveries over the range of 81.2-115% were obtained. These results indicated that titanium nanotubes had enormous potential in environmental field as a novel SPE adsorbent material.

Capillary microextraction for simultaneous analysis of multi-residual semivolatile organic compounds in water

Capillary microextractor (CME) in combination with a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) was employed for the determination of trace priority hazardous substances in water. Three groups of semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs), i.e., chlorinated hydrocarbons, pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), were simultaneously determined. SVOCs were extracted from 7 mL of water samples on a 100 cm commercial gas chromatographic column (0.32 mm id x film thickness 0.25 microm, HP-5 capillary column) and eluted with only 3 microL of acetonitrile. The extractant was analyzed by GC-MS in the selected ion monitoring mode. The method showed good linearity over the concentration range 10 ng L(-1) to 3.0 mg L(-1) with correlation coefficients (r) greater than 0.99 and low limits of detection ranged from 10 ng L(-1) to 1.0 mg L(-1). High recovery (more than 80%) was obtained with relative standard deviation less than 10%. The method was successfully applied for trace level analyses of SVOCs in water samples.