Significant quantities of largely unidentified byproducts are known to be produced from
the reactions of ozone and natural organic matter (NOM) during preoxidation treatment
of drinking water. The elucidation of the nature and identity of these ozonation byproducts
is hindered by two complicating factors. The first is the inherent aqueous
solubility of many of these compounds, which renders their efficient extraction from
water difficult to achieve. Second is the lack of established identity of specific potential
byproducts, which complicates targeted analytical approaches. To overcome these
challenges, we have approached the task of byproduct identification by methods
involving aqueous functional group-specific derivatization reactions.
Aqueous functional group-specific derivatizations are described for carbonyls
(multifunctional aldehydes and ketones) and epoxides. These procedures enhance the
extractability of the analytes and provide an analytical "flag" for the specific compound
classes. Derivatized compounds are extracted by solid phase extraction (SPE) and, in
some cases after further derivatization, analyzed by gas chromatography-mass
spectrometry (GC-MS).
Includes 18 references, figures.