Expanding the Target Analyte List for the French Normalized Environmental Method NF EN 12673 (Determination of Chlorophenols in Water by GC-MS) and an Evaluation of Its Suitability as a Substitute for EPA Methods 8041A and 604

Oral Presentation

Prepared by C. Rattray, E. Pack
Restek Corporation, 110 Benner Circle, Bellefonte, PA, 16823, United States


Contact Information: [email protected]; 814-353-1300


ABSTRACT

NF EN 12673 was written for the analysis of 19 chlorophenols in surface, ground and finished drinking water samples. It combines a relatively small sample size (50 mL) and simple in situ base catalyzed derivatization by acetic anhydride with GC-MS analysis in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode to achieve sub µg/L reporting limits. In general, small sample sizes equal big savings thanks to reduced shipping fees and are more environmentally friendly due to reduced solvent use. These benefits, combined with the added certainty inherent to GC-MS data, could make NF EN 12673 an ideal substitute for EPA Methods 8041 and 604 – both of which already allow for derivatization – if the analyte list can be extended to cover all 39 compounds listed in EPA Method 8041A. This presentation will discuss method detection limits (MDLs) and spiked sample recovery data for the 39 phenolic compounds derivatized by the French method and compare overall performance to the EPA methods.