Recently, much attention has been paid to synthetic organic reactions in aqueous media instead of in organic solvents such as silica gel-dispersal and polymer-dispersal aqueous systems from the point of view of environmental conservation. [1][2][3] The results suggest that the total synthetic process in aqueous systems is simple and the interface between the solid phase and the aqueous liquid provides specificity and diversity in the synthetic reactions. On the other hand, many attempts at chromatographic determination of analytes coupled with the derivatization reaction have been made to overcome the problems of low detection and insufficient separation. 4) However, the derivatization techniques utilizing the solid phase and solid phase-dispersed reactions have only been discussed in terms of efficiency in the analytical procedure, that is, efficient conversion of the analytes to the derivatives, high recovery, and shortening of the analysis time. [5][6][7][8][9] In particular, trace analyses of biological samples have been developed coupled with on-column derivatization and micro solid-phase extraction techniques. 6,7) However, environmental analyses still essentially require an enrichment step such as preconcentration and a derivatization step to achieve low detection limits prior to chromatographic separation. 10) The solid-phase aqueous reaction is a desirable method for environmental analyses from the point of view of environmental conservation as well as efficiency in the analytical procedure.The derivatization reagents characterized by an active sulfonyl chloride to the phenolic hydroxyl group such as tosyl chloride (4-methylbenzenesulfonyl chloride), dansyl chloride, and ferrocenesulfonyl chloride are entirely used for precolumn derivatization to overcome the disadvantage of the background response. Precolumn dansylation is applied to the HPLC analysis of endocrine-disruptive alkylphenolic compounds in environmental water. 10) The solid-phase reaction of the sulfonyl chlorides is important in improving the analytical methods. In this study, we have developed a direct tosylation method for alkylphenolic compounds preconcentrated in a C 18 -modified silica gel (ODS) cartridge used for their enrichment step using a heterogeneous system consisting of an aqueous medium and ODS instead of organic solvents, as a prototype of the solid-phase derivatization method of the phenols with sulfonyl chlorides.
ExperimentalChemicals Tosyl chloride as a derivatization reagent was purchased from Nacalai Tesque and used as received without further purification. The samples used were alkylphenols [4-tert-butylphenol, 4-sec-butylphenol, 4-(1,1-dimethylpropyl)phenol, 4-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenol, and 4-nonylphenol] which are recognized as estrogenic compounds. 10) They were of the best available grade from Nacalai Tesque and Tokyo Chemical Industry and were used as received. The ODS powder was purchased from Nacalai Tesque and was used in the solid-phase disperse system as a solidphase catalyst.Preparation of the Standa...