Source Identification of Trichloroacetic Acid with Preparative Capillary Gas Chromatography and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of Bayreuth Chair of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology Source identification of trichloroacetic acid with preparative capillary gas chromatography and accelerator mass spectrometry Dissertation Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Geosciences University of Bayreuth Kamila Jakubowska-Świtaj Bayreuth, 2006 Die vorliegende Arbeit wurde im Zeitraum von August 2001 bis Februar 2005 im Arbeitskreis von Herrn Prof. Dr. Hartmut Frank am Lehrstuhl für Umweltchemie und Ökotoxikologie der Universität Bayreuth angefertigt. Vollständiger Abdruck der von der Fakultät für Biologie, Chemie und Geowissenschaften der Universität Bayreuth zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktors der Naturwissenschaften genehmigten Dissertation. Einreicherung der Dissertation: 28.02.2006 Zulassung durch die Promotionskommission: 15.03.2006 Wissenschaftliches Kolloquium: 16.10.2006 Prof. Dr. H. Frank 1. Gutachter Prof. Dr. C. Unverzagt 2. Gutachter Prof. Dr. C. Zetzsch Vorsitzender Prof. Dr. B. Huwe Prof. Dr. E. Matzner For Paweł Acknowledgements Thanks are due to Prof. Dr. Hartmut Frank for guidance and stimulating discussions throughout the whole project. For scientific discussions and a lot of interesting ideas I thank Dr. Radomir Čabala, Dr. Silke Gerstmann, and Dr. Michael Reissinger. I thank Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kretschmer, Andreas Scharf, and Dr. Thomas Uhl for their productive cooperation in realizing the project. Financial support of the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA, Germany) is acknowl- edged. For active support in the laboratory I thank Elke Bär, Agnes Bednorz, Manuela Hollmach, Joanna Pająk, and especially the co-worker who spent very long hours on preparing samples - Benjamin Schmidt. The assistance of Dr. Radomir Čabala, Prof. Dr. Yafeng Guan, Dr. Xueliang Liu, Dr. Michael Reissinger, and Benjamin Schmidt in taking samples is greatly appreciated. I also would like to express my gratitude to Jochen Beck, Dr. Eugen Christoph, Petra Gros, Dr. Ibrahem Hasan, Ingrid Hilpert, Huong Thu Thi Ngo, Dagmar Keis-Leichner, Franziska Knabe, Petra Kopeck ă, Irmgard Lauterbach, Urte Lübcke-von-Varel, Katja Poxleitner, Dr. Elżbieta Przyk, Abed Abdel Qader, Dr. Cristina Schön-Velasco, Monika Suchocka, Wolfgang Weigl, Anna Weremiuk, Stefan Will, Joanna Znaleziona, and Manal el Zohary for providing a good working atmosphere, as well as Prof. Jacek Namieśnik and Ligia Zasławska from Gdańsk University of Technology for supporting. Last but not least I appreciate the assistance of Brigitte Wittmann from the library, as well as that of the co-workers from the mechanical and glassblowing workshop. I Contents 1. Introduction .........................................................................................................1 2. Objectives of the thesis.......................................................................................3 3. TCA in the environment ......................................................................................4 3.1 Application and sources of TCA....................................................................4 3.1.1 Formation of TCA from tetrachloroethene..............................................5 3.1.2 Formation of TCA from 1,1,1-trichloroethane.........................................6 3.1.3 Suggested natural formation of TCA......................................................7 3.2 Environmental concentrations of TCA...........................................................9 3.3 Physico-chemical properties of TCA ...........................................................11 3.4 Toxicity of TCA............................................................................................12 3.4.1 Ecotoxicology.......................................................................................12 3.4.2 Mammalian toxicity ..............................................................................13 3.5 Analytical methods for haloacetate analysis in the environment .................14 3.5.1 Gas chromatography/electron capture detection (GC/ECD) ................14 3.5.2 Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) .............................15 3.5.3 Capillary electrophoresis (CE) .............................................................15 3.5.4 Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) ...........................16 3.5.5 Supported-liquid-membrane micro-extraction/high-performance liquid chromatography/UV detection (SLMME/HPLC/UV) .............................17 3.5.6 Ion chromatography (IC) ......................................................................17 3.5.7 Sensor based on molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) membrane......18 3.6 Derivatization methods................................................................................18 3.6.1 1-Pentafluorophenyl-diazoethane (PFPDE).........................................18 3.6.2 2,4-Difluoroaniline (DFA) .....................................................................19 3.6.3 Acidified methanol................................................................................19 3.6.4 Diazomethane......................................................................................20 3.6.5 Dimethylsulfate ....................................................................................21 3.6.6 Pentafluorobenzyl bromide (PFBBr) ....................................................21 4. 14 C isotope (radiocarbon)..................................................................................22 4.1 Origin and distribution of radiocarbon .........................................................22 4.2 Environmental science application of the radiocarbon method ...................24 4.3 Equipment used for radiocarbon measurement ..........................................24 4.3.1 Gas proportional counting....................................................................24 II 4.3.2 Liquid scintillation (LS) counting .......................................................... 25 4.3.3 Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)................................................ 26 5. Kovats retention index...................................................................................... 30 6. Experimental work............................................................................................ 32 6.1 Chemicals and equipment .......................................................................... 32 6.1.1 Chemicals............................................................................................ 32 6.1.2 Equipment ........................................................................................... 33 6.2 Sampling site selection............................................................................... 36 6.3 Cleaning of glassware and PP-equipment, removal of contaminants......... 41 6.4 Quantitative determination of TCA in soil ................................................... 41 6.5 Optimization of soil extraction process ....................................................... 44 6.5.1 Selection of extraction agent ............................................................... 44 6.5.2 Optimization of extraction time ............................................................ 45 6.5.3 Optimization of the number of extraction steps ................................... 46 6.6 Calculation of Kovats index ........................................................................ 46 6.6.1 Soil sample preparation....................................................................... 47 6.7 Identification of co-eluting compounds ....................................................... 48 6.8 Isolation of TCA from soil ........................................................................... 49 6.8.1 Soil sample preparation....................................................................... 49 6.8.2 Blank sample preparation.................................................................... 52 6.9 Preparative capillary-gas chromatography (PC-GC) .................................. 52 6.9.1 PC-GC separation ............................................................................... 52 6.9.2 Purification of TCA in soil extracts....................................................... 54 6.10 Sample preparation for AMS ...................................................................... 54 7. Results and discussion..................................................................................... 57 7.1 Quality assurance....................................................................................... 57 7.1.1 Limit of detection, limit of quantification, precision............................... 57 7.1.2 Total error calculation.......................................................................... 57 7.1.3 Repeatability........................................................................................ 58 7.1.4 Sample trapping efficiency .................................................................. 58 7.1.5 Combustion efficiency ......................................................................... 60 7.2 Quantitative determination of TCA in soil ................................................... 61 7.3 Optimization of soil extraction process ....................................................... 62 7.3.1 Selection of extraction agent ............................................................... 62 III 7.3.2 Optimization of extraction time.............................................................62 7.3.3 Optimization of the number of extraction steps....................................63