Rapid synergistic cloud point extraction for simultaneous determination of five polar phenols in environmental water samples via high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

A novel method was established for preconcentration and determination of the following five polar phenolic compounds: phenol, o -, m -, and p -cresol and 2,4-dimethylphenol. After separating and enriching the analytes by rapid synergistic cloud point extraction (RS-CPE), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was carried out, and the components in surfactant-rich phase supernatant were detected fluorometrically. N-Pentanol, an alcohol with high polarity and rapid cloud point reduction effect, was used as the synergistic reagent, and the straight chain non-ionic surfactant Tergitol 15-S-7 was selected as the extractant. The pH, surfactant, salt concentration, revulsant and synergistic reagent were optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the correlation coefficients among target substances were all>0.998. The relative standard deviation range was 1.7%–5.0%, and the detection limit range was 0.061–0.166 μg/L. The proposed method is simple, economical, highly efficient and sensitive. It was successfully applied to the extraction and determination of polar phenolic compounds in environmental water samples, and the recoveries ranged from 85.6% to 108%.