Chemometric optimization of dispersive suspended microextraction followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in natural waters.

A dispersive suspended microextraction (DSME) method coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of ten polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in real water samples. The optimization of the method was achieved with a 2(7-4) Plackett-Burman design, while the significant factors were optimized using a central composite design (CCD). The parameters that were studied included the sample volume, organic solvent volume, extraction time, restoration time and organic solvent.