Coupled-column high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of four metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 1-, 4- and 9-hydroxyphenanthrene and 1-hydroxypyrene, in urine.

A coupled-column high-performance liquid chromatographic method applying system-integrated sample processing on a copper phthalocyanine modified solid-phase material, gradient elution and fluorescence detection for the quantification of 1-, 4- and 9-hydroxyphenanthrene as well as for 1-hydroxypyrene in urine is described. The automated chromatographic system tolerates direct and repeated injection of urine samples. Validation results presented indicate quantitative and matrix-independent recoveries, low imprecisions in within-series and between-series analysis in combination with broad linear working ranges (2-400 nmol/l) and low detection limits (< 0.1 nmol/l).