The challenge of exposure correction for polar passive samplers the PRC and the POCIS

“Passive sampling devices such as the polar organic chemical integrative sampler (POCIS)1 may have much to offer in response to the challenge of measuring low and fluctuating concentrations of polar compounds of interest in aquatic environments. For example they have recently been used to obtain illicit drug
monitoring data that would not have been practically and financially possible to achieve using other sampling methods.2 One of the biggest challenges facing the quantitative use of such samplers is the lack of a method to correct for in situ exposure conditions (water flow rates, temperature, pH etc.) which are known to affect uptake rates. This issue has been elegantly overcome for hydrophobic passive samplers by the use of so-called performance reference compounds (PRCs).3 These analytically noninterfering substances are spiked into samplers prior to deployment and as their dissipation follows first order kinetics
analogous to uptake they can be used to estimate sampling rates (Rs) of target compounds in situ.”

Copyright © 2011 American Chemical Society

(Citaat: Harman, C., Allan, I.J., Bäuerlein, P.S. – The challenge of exposure correction for polar passive samplers the PRC and the POCIS – Environmental Science and Technology 45(2011)21, p.9120-9121)