Synchronous spectrofluorimetric determination of total amounts of the six polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons officially designated as indicators of drinking water quality.

We report a quick, simple method for determination of the joint concentration of the 6 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) designated by current legislation as quality indicators for drinking water and for surface waters destined for use as drinking water. Water samples are extracted with hexane, and total indicator PAH concentration is determined by synchronous spectrofluorimetry (optimal instrumental parameters are reported). The detection limit (5.0 ng/L), quantitation limit (8.4 ng/L), precision (coefficient of variation, 3.8%), and accuracy (recovery, 77%) were well within the legal bounds for reference methods.