Detecting Perfluorooctanoic Acid by Reversed Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Pre-column Ultraviolet Derivatization

Objectives To establish a reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic method with pre-column ultraviolet derivatization for the determination of perfluorooctanoic acids (PFOA) in sewage and urine. Methods PFOA in sewage and urine formed an ion-pair with tetrabutylammonium (TBA) and were extracted into MTBE. The PFOA then reacted with ω-bromoacetophenone (ω-BAP) in acetonitrile and produced materials quantifiable by HPLC with UV detector. Results The detection limit of the proposed method was 7.0 μg/L with a relative standard deviation of less than 10%. The recoveries for real samples ranged from 85.3% to 116%. Conclusion The proposed method is suitable for the determination of PFOA in sewage and urine.