Multivariate-Assisted Solid Phase Extraction Procedure for Simultaneous Preconcentration and Assessment of UV-Filters in Wastewater Prior to UV-Vis Spectrophotometric Determination

Abstract

Determination of emerging pollutants such as UV-filters in environmental samples is very important because they have been proven to have harmful effects on human and aquatic life. In this study, a simple, fast and inexpensive method combining solid phase extraction (SPE) and UV spectrophotometry was developed for simultaneous preconcentration and deter mination of benzophenone and sulisobenzone in wastewater samples. The effect of factors affecting the preconcentration of UV-filters was optimized using univariate and multivariate approach. Under optimized conditions, the limits of detection (LOD), limits of quantifica - tion (LOQ) and preconcetration factors were in the range of 0.15–0.28 and 0.50–0.93 μg L −1 , 50–55, respectively. The dynamic linear range was up to 250 μg L −1 for benzophenone and sulisobenzone. In addition, the intra- and inter-day precisions were 3.1–3.3 and 4.5–5.2%, respectively. The developed method was successfully applied to determine UV filters in wastewater samples attaining satisfactory recoveries over the range of 99.3–100.7%. The con - centration of the target pollutants in wastewater samples ranged from 6.83 to 85.67 μg L −1 .