OBJECTIVETo establish a method for determination of the epichlorohydrin in drinking water by isotope dilution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).

METHODSThe internal standard solution D5-epichlorohydrin was added in drinking water sample. The epichlorohydrin was firstly collected by active carbon, and the adsorbent was then centrifuged at 2739 × g for 10 min to remove water. Finally, the epichlorohydrin was desorbed by dipping the active carbon in 1.0 ml acetone for 1 h. The desorbed solution was tested by GC-MS and quantified with isotopic internal standards. The detection limit, precision and accuracy of the assay were evaluated. This method was adopted to detect the epichlorohydrin in drinking water for 25 batches in a city.

RESULTSThe determination method of epichlorohydrin represented a good linear relationship in the range of 0.0645-3.8700 µg/L, the linear regression equation was Y = 2.828X + 4.91 × 10(-2) (r > 0.999). When the epichlorohydrin concentration were 0.0806, 0.3230 and 3.2300 µg/L, the relative standard deviations (RSD) were 7.9%, 4.7% and 3.1%, respectively. The average recoveries were from 95.7% to 98.7%. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.015 µg/L, limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.052 µg/L. The content of epichlorohydrin in the 25 cases of drinking water was under the limit of detection.

CONCLUSIONThe method is more simple than the national standard method, with high sensitivity, accuracy and good reproducibility, which is suitable for detection of the trace amounts of epichlorohydrin in drinking water.