Application of liquid chromatography to the determination of emerging pollutants in environmental samples

Abstract

Emerging contaminants are compounds that are not currently covered by existing regulations, that have not been previously studied, and that are thought to be a possible threat to environmental health and safety. In particular, these compounds include pharmaceuticals, personal care products and surfactants, among others. Their extensive environmental distribution and their potential toxicological effects at very low concentrations have attracted increasing interest. Due to the typically very low concentrations at which these compounds occur and the high complexity of some environmental samples, very specific and sensitive analytical procedures are needed for their determination. Because gas chromatography, when used without previous derivatization, is only suitable for non-polar, volatile and semi-volatile compounds, liquid chromatography, coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) and time-of-flight mass spectrometric (TOF/MS) techniques, has been viewed as a potential method for analyzing a broad range of these compounds. Ultra high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) has also emerged in a powerful approach, particularly because of the ability to transfer existing high performance liquid chromatography (LC) conditions directly. These approaches improve liquid chromatographic performance in terms of analysis time and resolution. In this chapter an overall review of the more recently reported liquid chromatography approaches for identifying and quantifying emerging contaminants in environmental samples is presented.