Determination of phthalate esters in water by high performance liquid chromatography after enrichment using microextraction Flask

A liquid-liquid microextraction/high performance liquid chromatography using special microextraction flask was used for the determination of phthalate esters in water.The extraction solvent was toluene.The effect of experimental conditions on response such as different extraction solvents and salt concentration were optimized.The method detection limits of dimethyl phthalate,diethyl phthalate and dibutyl phthalate were 0.45,0.38 and 0.64 μg/L,respectively.The average recovery was 72.46% to 90.03%.The RSD was 2.72% to 3.71%.It showed that the extraction method was very simple that could be used for concentrating trace phthalate esters effectively in water.