Background: A new microextraction method named dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) for determination of chloroform in pool water and blood of swimmers after swimming is described.
Methods: This method was performed based on coupling dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) with gas chromatog­raphy-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Methanol and trichloroethylenes were used as the disperser solvent and the extrac­tion solvents, respectively. The volumes of these solvents were optimized for pool water by central composite design. The study involved three indoor swimming pools and nine swimmers.
Results: Chloroform concentration of pool water was 118-135 µg L^-1 and of blood ranged from 1.26 to 1.66 µg L^-1.
Conclusion: Indoor swimming pools are closed environments presenting detectable levels of trihalomethanes (THMs). Chloro­form (CHCl₃) is the most represented THMs. Therefore, the presence of CHCl₃ may be considered representative of the THMs. The new method DLLME was applied for determination of CHCl₃ in pool water and blood of swimmers after swim­ming inside the indoor swimming pool. The method was optimized by experimental design. Chloroform concentra­tions in the specified pool waters were 135, 124, 118 µg L^-1.