Evaluation in gasoline of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by HPLC and GC-MS

In this paper the evaluation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in gasoline is described. A procedure involving a double extraction of samples with N-methylpirrolidone-water-phosphoric acid and with cyclohexane has been used followed by HPLC-DAD and GCMS. The results obtained show that all gasoline samples contain PAHs with two to six rings and no substantial difference was noticed between leaded and unleaded gasoline. The benzo(a)pyrene content ranged between 1.0-2.0 mg L-1, a comparatively high concentration for a dangerous compound.