Determination of steroids, caffeine and methylparaben in water using solid phase microextraction-comprehensive two dimensional gas chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometry

Analysis of several emerging contaminants (steroids, caffeine and methylparaben) in water using automated solid-phase microextraction with comprehensive two dimensional gas chromatography coupled to time of flight mass spectrometry (SPME-GCxGC-ToF/MS) is presented. Experimental design was used to determine the best SPME extraction conditions and the steroids were not derivatized prior to injection. SPME-GCxGC-ToF/MS provided linear ranges from 0.6 to 1200 mu g L-1 and limits of detection and quantitation from 0.02 to 100 mu g L-1. A series of river water samples obtained locally were subjected to analysis. SPME-GCxGC-ToF/MS is readily automated, straightforward and competitive with other methods for low level analysis of emerging contaminants (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.