Introduction

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) which consists of condensed aromatics are produced by the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing materials such as diesel oil and coal. Some PAHs are known to be carcinogenic, so the detection and quantitative determination of environmental PAHs is important.

In this article, the analysis of 15 PAHs is carried out using the simultaneous Dual Wavelength Detection function of fluorescence detector.

Simultaneous Dual Wavelength Detection
Simultaneous Dual Wavelength Detection function enables to get two chromatograms of each setting wavelength during one measurement. Its function is powerful tool for analyzing the samples that have different optimum detection wavelengths.

LC-4000 UHPLC system

Experimental

Chromatographic conditions
Column:   ZORBAX Eclipse PAH (2.1 mmI.D. x 50 mmL, 1.8 µm)
Eluent:   A: Water, B: Acetonitrile
Gradient condition: A/B: 60/40 (0 min) -> 32/68 (3.7 min) -> 0/100 (6 min) -> 0/100 (8.2 min) -> 60/40 (8.3 min)
Flow rate:   0.6 mL/min
Column temp.:   30 ̊C
Detection: Fluorescence detection by using time program (see Table 1)
Injection volume:   1 µL
Standard:   PAH Calibration Mix 200 ppb in Dichloromethane/Methanol (1:1)

Table 1. Time program of simultaneous dual wavelength detection

Keywords

UHPLC, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, PAH, ZORBAX Eclipse PAH, Semi-micro Cell, fluorescence detection

Results

Figure 1 shows chromatogram of 15 components PAHs.

Figure 1. Chromatogram of 15 components in PAH standard mixture.  (red：CH1, blue：CH2)
1: Naphthalene, 2: Acenaphthene, 3: Fluorene, 4: Phenanthrene, 5: Anthracene, 6: Fluoranthene, 7: Pyrene, 8: Benzo[a]anthracene, 9: Chrysene, 10: Benzo[b]fluoranthene, 11: Benzo[k]fluoranthene, 12: Benzo[a]pyrene 13: Dibenzo[a,h]anthracene, 14: Benzo[g,h,i]perylene, 15: Indeno[1,2,3-c,d]pyrene