Simple HPLC–UV Analysis of Phenol and Its Related Compounds in Tap Water after Pre-Column Derivatization with 4-Nitrobenzoyl Chloride

The purpose of this study is to develop an HPLC-UV (280 nm) method for simultaneous determination of phenol, five chlorophenols (2-chlorophenol, 4-chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,6-dichlorophenol, and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol), and three phenylphenols (2-phenylphenol, 3-phenylphenol, and 4-phenylphenol) in tap water after pre-column derivatization with 4-nitrobenzoyl chloride. Standard curves were obtained after derivatization with 4-nitrobenzoyl chloride in borate buffer (pH 8.5) at 50°C for 1 min. The nine 4-nitrobenzoyl derivatives were well separated in less than 15 min on a Cholester column. Calibration plots were linear in the range of 0.02 ~ 0.12 to 0.9 mg/L, with r2 values ≥0.9928, for all compounds. The lower limits of detection were 0.006 to 0.05 mg/L. The coefficients of variation were less than 12.0%. The recovery values from tap water spiked with a standard mixture of test compounds were satisfactory. While the levels of phenol, five chlorophenols, and three phenylphenols in tap water were below the lower limit of determination, our method is expected to be useful for monitoring and/or identifying environmental water samples that are contaminated with these compounds, i.e., for assessing compliance with the official guidelines of the World Health Organization.