Determination of persistent organic pollutants by gas chromatography/laser multiphoton ionization/time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Abstract

An authentic mixture of polychlorinated biphenyls was measured using a short wide-bore capillary column for the group separation of major components present in an actual sample of Kanechlor. The limits of detection were improved by ca. 2 fold in comparison with those obtained using a conventional capillary column, since the retention time was reduced and the amount of analytes introduced into the mass spectrometer per unit time could be increased. On the other hand, surface-water and sediment samples containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were collected from the river located in the vicinity of a waste water treatment plant. Even acenaphthylene, a minor component of the mixture could be measured for the sediment sample, and the concentrations were determined for several heavy PAHs. As demonstrated, a technique involving laser multiphoton ionization/time-of-flight mass spectrometry was useful as a sensitive and selective analytical tool for the trace analysis of persistent organic pollutants in an environmental sample.

Keywords

polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) / polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) / laser multiphoton ionization/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MPI/TOF-MS)

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Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg