Sediments act as major sinks and secondary sources of contaminants of emerging concern(CECs). However, sediments have a complex matrix composition, making a suitable pretreatment method essential for analysis. In this study, a pretreatment method for ...
Sediments act as major sinks and secondary sources of contaminants of emerging concern(CECs). However, sediments have a complex matrix composition, making a suitable pretreatment method essential for analysis. In this study, a pretreatment method for the simultaneous determination of 118 CECs was optimized by adjusting extraction solvent combinations, the volume of EDTA buffer added, and sonication time using LC-HRMS. As a result of the optimization, the combination of Water + MeOH + ACN + Hexane as the extraction solvent, 5 mL of EDTA buffer, and 30 minutes of sonication provided the highest extraction efficiency. Method validation confirmed linearity with R² > 0.99, Limit of detection ranged from 0.1 ~ 5 ng/g, and limit of quantitation ranged from 1 ~ 20 ng/g. Accuracy was 90.69 ± 16.40%, precision was below 20%, absolute recovery was 50.87 ± 11.30%, and matrix effect was -19.04 ± 12.47%. The application of the optimized pretreatment method to sediment samples from the Nakdong River estuary resulted in the detection of a total of 14 CECs. This study provides a pretreatment method for simultaneous multi-residue analysis in sediments, which can serve as a basis for future monitoring and risk assessment of CECs in aquatic environments.