Abstract: A simple method based on solid phase extraction (SPE) coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) was developed for the determination of octylphenol (OP), nonylphenol (NP), octylphenol ethoxylates (OPEOs) and nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEOs) in brine. The extraction and cleanup of brine samples were performed on C18 solid-phase extraction cartridges. The complete separation among OP, NP, OPEOs and NPEOs was achieved on a Hypersil GOLD analytical column with methanol-water as the mobile phase. The determination was achieved using HPLC-MS with electrospray ionization (ESI) in selected ion monitoring mode. The results showed that the average recoveries of target compounds were 59.6%~104.4% and the corresponding relative standard deviations (RSDs, n=3) were 1.0%~13.5%. The instrumental limits of detection for the compounds were 0.08~3 μg/L. This method was applied to the analysis of the samples of seawater near Dalian coast. The results showed that both NP and NPEOs were detected in all samples and their concentrations in seaport and oil port were much higher than those in other sampling sites.

Key words: alkylphenol, alkylphenolpolyethoxylate, high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS), brine, solid phase extraction (SPE)