Fast Screening of Phenol and Its Derivatives in Wastewater by HPLC by Using Monolithic Silica Column andSolid-Phase Extraction.

A simple, fast, inexpensive, and reproducible high performance liquid chromatography and solid phase extraction (HPLC-SPE) method was developed for the analysis of 4-cyanophenol, phenol, 4-nitrophenol, and 4-chlorophenol in wastewater. The column used was a monolithic silica column, Chromolith Performance RP-18e 100-4,6 (100 × 4.6 mm). The mobile phase used was water–acetonitrile (80:20, v/v) at the flow rate ranging from 1 to 10 mL/min. The detection was achieved by using the ultraviolet (UV) mode at 246 nm. The detection limits of these phenolic compounds ranged from 1 to 5 ng. The separation of these phenolic compounds was achieved at a maximum time of 1.22 min by using 10 mL/min as the flow rate. The separation factors of all the studied phenols were in the range of 2.11 to 17.58, while the resolution factors were from 1.00 to 2.33. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]