Gas chromatographic determination of phenols in surface waters using polyoxyethylene bis arsenates

Current paper is devoted to the determination of phenols in surface waters using the method of gas-liquid chromatography on the nozzle chromatographic columns with different polarities of sorbents, in the capacity of which silicone elastomers, polyethylene glycol with the molecular weight of 1500, and polyoxyethylene bis arsenate obtained by arsenating polyethylene glycol-1500 were studied. It was shown that positional isomers, para - and meta – cresols, which have almost identical boiling points, were separated on polyoxyethylene bis arsenate and on the standard sorbents (SE-30 and PEG-1000) they practically do not separate and come out with a single peak. The logarithmic retention indexes were determined for the analyzed phenols and chromatographic Rorschneider polarity factors on polyoxyethylene bis arsenate, which are extremely high for ethanol (factor y) and are associated with the formation of an intermolecular hydrogen bond in the sorbate-sorbent system. It was found that polyoxyethylene bis arsenate had a linear dependence of the logarithm of the retention time on their boiling point and dipole moments. In the case of dipole moments, there was a deviation from the specified dependence for o-chlorophenol, obviously as a result of a specific substituent effect (ortho effect). Polyoxyethylene bis arsenate was used to determine phenols in the surface waters of the Kuibyshev reservoir. For this purpose, a sample preparation system based on the conversion of phenols into brominated derivatives, which have high volatility and are fairly well analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography, was used. A comparative characteristic of the limit of detection of phenols for flame ionization and thermionic detectors was given. As a result of the determination of phenols in the surface waters of the Kuibyshev reservoir, a high content of phenols was found, which fluctuates during the different seasons of the year.