The solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is a new method for the extraction of organic compounds from aqueous samples which eliminates the use of solvents. Sorbent-coated silica fibres are used to extract the analytes from the sample. After extraction, the fibres a re directly transferred to the injector of a gas chromatograph and the adsorbed substances are thermally desorbed.

In combination with GC/FID the SPME procedure was optimized for the determination of C6H6, C6H5Cl, C6H5Br, 1,2-C6H4Cl2, 1,4-C6H4Cl2, 1,2-C6H4Br2 and 1,4-C6H4Br2 in pure and octanol-saturated water. The procedure was found to be linear for 4-5 orders of magnitude, the detection limits lay between 0.4 mu g l(-1) and 3.1 mu g l(-1) and the high octanol concentration has no negative influence on the extraction of the analytes.