Simultaneous Determination of 2,3,7,8-TCDD and 2,3,7,8-TCDF in Water Samples by LLE-LTP and HPLC-DAD

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans are persistent organic pollutants which can mainly be found in the environment in water. These compounds are highly toxic and therefore developing new extraction methodologies that are simpler and cost less is highly desirable. This study aimed to optimize and validate the liquid-liquid extraction with low-temperature partition methodology of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran in water samples. The optimum extraction conditions were 8.0 mL of the acetonitrile and 4.0 mL of the water, homogenized in a vortex for 1 min and then maintained at -20 ºC for 1 h. The analytes recovery percentage was close to 100% and relative standard deviation was less than 7%. The methodology was precise, accurate, linear at 2.4-5.4 µg L-1, and selective, with a quantification limit of 2.4 µg L-1. The optimized methodology was applied in ten real samples and the results showed that these analytes were not detected.