Simultaneous Determination of Polychlorinated Biphenyls and Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons in Natural Waters by Dispersive Liquid–Liquid Microextraction and Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

The test samples are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), highly toxic and widely prevalent organic pollutants in natural waters. The feasibility of using dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) for extracting PCBs and PAHs, followed by their determination by GC–MS, was assessed in the presence of both contaminants. A DLLME method employing a binary dispersing agent was proposed, ensuring the simultaneous extraction of analytes with efficiency ranging from 80 to 97%. The proposed procedure enabled the GC–MS determination of 16 PAHs and 7 PCBs in natural waters in a wide concentration range of 2.0 × 10^–5–0.04 µg/mL with an average error of 7–18% for PAHs and 11–18% for PCBs. The relative standard deviations for repeatability and reproducibility were found to be 3.1–6.5 and 4.3–7.7%, respectively, for PAHs, and 2.8–5.3 and 3.4–6.0%, respectively, for PCBs.