Solventless sampling of phthalate esters.

An environmentally friendly method to passively sample six phthalate esters in water has been devised. The sampling device consists of a semi-permeable membrane, which the analytes diffuse through and are collected onto Tenax TA. The Tenax TA was then thermally desorbed with a helium stream into a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) after the sampling period.

Permeation sampling of phthalate esters in water.

A method for sampling the six phthalate esters considered priority pollutants by the United States EPA has been developed. The sampling device utilizes a silicone polycarbonate membrane (SSP-M213) through which the analytes permeate and are collected onto an adsorbent, Amberlite XAD-16. After a known period, the samplers were removed from the water and the analytes were extracted from the adsorbent using dichloromethane/hexane (50:50, v/v), with the resulting solution analyzed using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection.