Trace determination of low-molecular-mass substituted benzaldehydes in treated water using micro solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric detection.

Aldehydes are a class of water disinfection by-products (DBPs) that are an object of special attention due to their high toxicity and carcinogenic effect. While aliphatic low-molecular-mass aldehydes (LMMAs) are often measured in waters, there is little information on the occurrence of aromatic LMMAs. This paper reports the development of a simple, rapid and sensitive method for the quantitative determination of six LMM substituted benzaldehydes (BAs) as DBPs in treated water. The method is based on the continuous in situ derivatisation/extraction of aldehydes on a Telos™ ENV μ-solid-phase extraction (μ-SPE) column impregnated with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH). After elution of the hydrazones with acetonitrile (ACN), the derivatives are analysed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Under optimum conditions, limits of detection (LODs) were obtained between 15 and 25ng/L and the inter-day precision expressed as the relative standard deviation (RSD) ranged from 6.1% to 7.7%. Matrix effects were shown to be negligible by comparing the response factors (RFs) obtained in ultra-pure and treated waters. The proposed method is the first contribution developed for the analysis of LMM substituted BAs as DBPs in waters by LC-MS. Some of the aromatic LMMAs identified had not previously been reported for swimming pool water.