Abstract: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the environmental organic pollutants which can induce cancers, teratogeny and organism saltation. Therefore, a reliable detection method is essential for studying the environmentally hazardous PAHs. The high performance liquid chromatography with a highly sensitive fluorescence detector was introduced to determine 15 PAHs of the priority pollutants named by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in soil. The gradient elution procedure was improved and the detection wavelength was optimized. The detection limits and the recoveries of the improved method for the 15 PAHs were in the ranges of 0.12 μg/kg to 1.57 μg/kg and 73% to 126%, respectively. The relative standard deviations of this method were in the range of 0.53% to 3.57%. The results indicated that this method is a reliable detection method with low detection limit, high sensitivity and repeatability for the determination of PAHs in soil.

Key words: fluorescence detection, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), soil , high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)