Aquatic pollution by organic compounds, many of which are toxic and carcinogenic, has aroused great concern.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are pollutants that stand out due to their carcinogenicity and potential
risk to human health. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the application of semipermeable membrane
devices (SPMD), consisting of low-density polyethylene filled with acetonitrile, for the sampling of some PAH
(naphthalene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene and benzo(k)fluoranthene) in aqueous media. Optimization of
the samplingmethodology in terms of exposition time and volume of the phases (water sample and internal solvent)
was performed. Also, the verification of the influence of some factors that could interfere in the sampling,
such as ionic strength and temperature, was carried out. The results obtained in the present work demonstrated
that an 8 cmmembrane segment, filledwith 3mL acetonitrile, was able to extract the five analytes fromaqueous
medium. The extraction efficiency depended on the size of the substance, being observed higher extraction for
the compounds with lower mass. Two saline water samples were analyzed, and recovery tests were performed
to evaluate the calibration strategy. Calibrationwith a synthetic saline waterwith 50‰salinity provided good recovery
percentages (82–119%) for naphthalene, anthracene and fluoranthene, whereas for pyrene and
benzo(k)fluoranthene, analyte addition approach must be employed. Also, naphthalene could be identified in
a third sample of highly saline production water, indicating that the proposed sampling device can be employed
for screening purposes.