Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aqueous samples using recycled polystyrene for pipette tip-solid phase extraction followed by HPLC-FLD.

Expanded polystyrene is widely produced and used due to its properties and, recently, its ability to present π–π interactions has been described. Therefore, this work proposed to use recycled polystyrene for solid phase extraction of 12 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in aqueous samples. Recycled polystyrene films were formed and characterised by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and affinity experiments. A moderate interaction was found, which allowed its integration in pipette tip-solid phase extraction followed by HPLC-FLD analysis. The method presents limits of detection in the range of 0.05–0.14 ng mL−1 for 12 PAHs analytes, with a precision (expressed as relative standard deviation) <10%. The methodology was applied to tap water samples, and the results were compared to those obtained using the official methodology, with no statistically significant differences. The proposed method is efficient, fast and has a low consumption of organic solvent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]