Efficient extraction of PAHs in aqueous organised media assisted by focused microwaves

Summary

A novel method for the extraction into an aqueous medium of PAHs in soil is described, where sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) is used as micelle former. After optimisation of this step using a multivariate approach, recoveries of the target analytes from spiked soil ranging between 98.3%–99.7% were obtained when the samples were subjected to extraction with 25 mL of an aqueous SDS solution (2.9 10⁻² mol L⁻¹) while irradiated with focused microwaves at 240 W for 40 min. The overall method involving determination of the extracted compounds consists of three steps: 1) extraction of the analytes into the aqueous micellar medium assisted by focused microwaves; 2) trapping of the analytes on a C₁₈ cartridge for clean up and preconcentration and; 3) HPLC separation with fluorimetric detection. The method was validated using the certified reference material CRM 524 and the results found were in agreement with the certified values.