Apart
from being considered a potential threat to ecosystems and
human health, the ubiquity of microplastics presents analytical challenges.
There is a high risk of sample contamination during sampling, sample
preparation, and analysis. In this study, the potential of sample
contamination or misinterpretation due to substances associated with
disposable laboratory gloves or reagents used during sample preparation
was investigated. Leachates of 10 different types of disposable gloves
were analyzed using Raman microspectroscopy (μ-Raman), Fourier-transform
infrared microspectroscopy (μ-FTIR), and pyrolysis–gas
chromatography/mass spectrometry (pyr–GC/MS). There appeared
to be polyethylene (PE) in almost all investigated glove leachates
and with all applied methods. Closer investigations revealed that
the leachates contained long-chain compounds such as stearates or
fatty acids, which were falsely identified as PE by the applied analytical
methods. Sodium dodecyl sulfate, which is commonly applied in microplastic
research during sample preparation, may also be mistaken for PE. Therefore,
μ-Raman, μ-FTIR, and pyr–GC/MS were further tested
for their capability to distinguish among PE, sodium dodecyl sulfate,
and stearates. It became clear that stearates and sodium dodecyl sulfates
can cause substantial overestimation of PE.
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