Issue 2, 2019

Fluorescence based detection of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in water using hydrophobic interactions

Abstract

Despite increasing controls in their production and disposal, persistent organic pollutants in water, even at concentrations below parts per million, represent an ongoing environmental health risk. Despite this concern, the detection of these compounds in water sources rely upon expensive, time consuming approaches that do not permit frequent monitoring and evaluation. In this work, a new fluorescence-based technique is presented for the detection of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in water. Benzopyrene (BaP) fluorescence was shown to increase with trace concentrations of aromatic organic pollutants. BaP forms a hydrophobic complex with PCBs, which has allowed for the successful detection of pollutants including PCB-126, PCB-153 and PCB-118. To determine the selectivity and robustness of this response, the impact of pH, ionic strength and humic acid to mimic surface water conditions is explored. While suppression of the signal was seen, these factors’ impact on the detection of PCBs was minor, suggesting that a potential sensing strategy can be developed through this interaction. It is seen that the number and location of chlorine atoms are important along with the geometric orientation of molecule's structure.

Graphical abstract: Fluorescence based detection of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in water using hydrophobic interactions

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 May 2018
Accepted
16 Oct 2018
First published
01 Nov 2018

Analyst, 2019,144, 677-684

Fluorescence based detection of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in water using hydrophobic interactions

I. Ahmad, J. Weng, A. J. Stromberg, J. Z. Hilt and T. D. Dziubla, Analyst, 2019, 144, 677 DOI: 10.1039/C8AN00867A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements