Extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from cookies: a comparative study of ultrasound and microwave-assisted procedures.

The chromatographic determination of 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in cookies has been improved in order to obtain a fast method with a low limit of detection through the combination of microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), oil saponification and solid-phase extraction clean-up before the injection of purified extracts in a C18 201TP52 (5 microm, 250 x 2.1 mm) column. Using acetonitrile-water as mobile phase, with a 50% to 95% w/w acetonitrile gradient for a fixed flow of 0.250 ml min(-1), 15 PAHs were separated in 45 min. The column temperature was maintained at 15 degrees C; and fluorimetric detection was made at a fixed excitation wavelength of 264 nm and emission measurement…