Applicability of Fibrous Solid Phase Extraction to Alkyl Phthalates Analysis

A fibrous material (p-phenylene-2,5-benzobisoxazole, PBO) was used as an adsorbent for solid phase extraction in order to simplify the extraction procedure. The extraction performance for di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) was examined with two types of PBO fibers (HM (High modulus) and AS (Regular type) types) by batch type sorption/desorption experiments. When 100 mg of the HM fibers were applied to 20 mL of the aqueous DEHP solution (less than 50 μg/L), more than 95% of DEHP was adsorbed on the fibers, however, the AS type fibers adsorbed alkyl phthalate up to 80%. In the case of 50 μg/L of the initial concentration of DEHP, the adsorbed DEHP was extracted effectively with methanol and the maximum overall recovery ratio was 92.3%. The results indicated that the PBO fibers could be used as an adsorbent for alkyl phthalate analysis, and that the extraction procedure was not affected by suspended solids in a water sample.