Analysis of polar organic contaminants in surface water of the northern Adriatic Sea by solid-phase extraction followed by ultrahigh-pressure liquid chromatography–QTRAP® MS using a hybrid triple-quadrupole linear ion trap instrument

Water soluble polar organic contaminants are discharged by rivers, cities, or ships into the oceans. Little is known on the fate, pollution effects, and thresholds of toxic chemical mixtures in the marine environment. A new trace analytical method was developed for the multi-compound analysis of polar organic chemical contaminants in marine waters. The method is based on automated solid-phase extraction (SPE) of one liter water samples followed by ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography triple-quadrupole linear ion-trap mass spectrometry (UHPLC–QTRAP®-MS). Marine water samples from the open Adriatic Sea taken 16 km off-shore Venice (Italy) were analyzed. Method limits of quantification (LOQs) in the low picogram per liter (pg/l) concentration range were achieved. Out of the 67 target chemicals analyzed, 45 substances could be detected above the LOQ. The chemicals detected at the highest concentrations were caffeine (up to 367 ng/l), nitrophenol (36 ng/l), 2,4-dinitrophenol (34 ng/l), 5-methyl-1H-benzotriazole (18.5 ng/l), sucralose (11 ng/l), 1H-benzotriazole (9.2 ng/l), terbutylazine (9 ng/l), alachlor (7.7 ng/l), atrazine-desisopropyl (6.6 ng/l), diethyltoluamid (DEET) (5.0 ng/l), terbutylazine-desethyl (4.3 ng/l), metolachlor (2.8 ng/l), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) (2.5 ng/l), perfluoropentanoic acid (PFPeA) (2.3 ng/l), linuron (2.3 ng/l), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) (2.2 ng/l), diuron (2.0 ng/l), perfluorohexansulfonate (PFHxS) (1.6 ng/l), simazine (1.6 ng/l), atrazine (1.5 ng/l), and perfluorooctansulfonate (PFOS) (1.3 ng/l). Higher concentrations were detected during summer due to touristic activities.JRC.H.1-Water Resource