Benzotriazoles and benzothiazoles are polar high produc-tion volume chemicals that find broad applications in vari-ous industrial processes as well as in households. The benzotriazoles are complexing agents that are widely used as corrosion inhibitors, antifreeze liquids, industrial coolingsystems, UV-light stabilizer for plastics, anti-foggant inphotography and silver protection in household dishwashingagents.Benzothiazoles and their derivatives are manufactured worldwide for a wide variety of applications.They are used as biocides (fungicides, herbicides, slimicidesin the paper and leather manufacturing, etc.), as corrosioninhibitors in cooling water and in antifreeze for automobilesas well as vulcanization accelerators in rubber production.
Owing to widespread application, several benzothiazoles have been detected in drinking water,environmental waters, including rivers, lakes, and ground water, as well as in constructedwetlands and of course, wastewaters.These compounds have mainly been analyzed by liquidchromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, and only in a few cases by gas chromatography coupledto mass spectrometry. In the vast majority of the sample preparation procedures, solid-phase extraction (SPE) was used to extract benzotriazoles andbenzothiazoles from water samples.
Since modern trends in analytical chemistry are approached towards the simplification of sample preparation, in the lastyears, microextraction techniques are playing an important rolein the determination of different pollutants.