CP-2006-06
Determination of hormones and non-ionic surfactant degradation products in small-volume aqueous samples from soil columns using LC-ESI-MS-MS and GC-MS
Chen, J., J. Lichwa, M. Snehota, S. Mohanty, C. Ray
The leaching of two estrogens, 17 beta-estradiol and estrone, and two degradation products of non-ionic surfactants, octylphenol and nonylphenol, through a soil column were studied to estimate their transport behavior. Different concentration methods (lyophilization, solid phase extraction, and liquid-liquid extraction) were evaluated for analyzing these compounds in small effluent fractions (30-50 mL) collected. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were employed for quantitative analysis of these compounds. After comparison, the lyophilization LC-MS-MS method was found to be best suited for the analysis of the two estrogen hormones and the liquid-liquid extraction GC-MS method best for the analysis of the two phenols in small samples in the soil column study. Because of their high sorption capacity, these compounds were mostly sorbed in the upper part of the soil column and were difficult to detect in column effluent.