Abstract: A simple method based on solid phase extraction (SPE) coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for the determination of 1H-benzotriazole (BT), 5-methyl-1H-benzotriazole (5-M-BT), 5,6-dimethyl-1H-benzotriazole (5,6-DM-BT), 5-chloro-1H-benzotriazole (5-Cl-BT) and benzothiazole (BTH) in surface water. The extraction and clean-up of the surface water sample were performed on an HLB solid-phase extraction cartridge. The separation of the five compounds was achieved on a ZORBAX SB-C18 column (250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 μm) with methanol-water (55:45, v/v) as mobile phase and ultraviolet detection. The quantification was achieved by external standard method. The results showed that good linearities were observed in the ranges of 0.064-80 mg/L with the correlation coefficients ≥ 0.9999 and the instrumental limits of detection for the five target compounds were in the range of 1.9-3.2 μg/L. The average recoveries of the five target compounds were 87.8%-125.6% and the relative standard deviations (n=3) were 0.4%-9.4%. This method was applied to the analysis of the surface water samples from the Dalian tap water and the Liaohe River estuary. The results showed that BT, 5-M-BT, 5-Cl-BT and BTH were found in the water from the Liaohe River estuary.

Key words: benzothiazole, benzotriazoles, derivatives, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), surface water, solid phase extraction (SPE)