A tiered analytical approach for target, non-target and suspect screening analysis of polar transformation products of polycyclic aromatic compounds

Recent Advances in the Study of the Remediation of Polycyclic Aromatic Compound (PAC)-Contaminated Soils: Transformation Products, Toxicity, and Bioavailability Analyses

“…However, future studies that are interested in analyzing alkylated PAHs may consider the use of a two-dimensional GC system, which is capable of separating isomers − a relevant factor in the separation of alkylated PAHs. Furthermore, as researchers expand their analysis to PAH-TPs and other PACs, some of which are more polar than PAH 16 and parent PAHs, the use of a liquid chromatography (LC) system may be considered. ,, Although derivatization of OHPAHs followed by GC-MS has been used in a previous remediation study, new methods for the analysis OHPAHs using LC-MS will greatly benefit researchers who are interested in quantifying OHPAHs post-remediation. The availability of standards is another area that requires further attention as researchers identify more and more compounds in their remediation studies.…”

“…NTA was previously used to identify PAH-TPs that were formed post-bioremediation. , When combined with various fragmentation prediction programs, such as CFM-ID , or MetFrag, NTA can provide researchers with a list of new PAH-TPs and/or PACs that have not been previously studied. Full scan GC-MS analysis, combined with access to the NIST MS library, can provide researchers with a comprehensive list of PAH-TPs and PACs that are formed following remediation, as demonstrated by Li et al Other approaches for NTA include the combination of GC and LC, high-resolution MS, and computational calculation to predict the formation of PAH-TPs. ,, The use of Kendrick mass defects to assess the presence of homologous series of PACs can also be useful as demonstrated by Vila and colleagues in the case of PANHs in soil extracts. , In cases in which NTA is not viable, researchers can apply suspect screening analysis, such as by using the comprehensive list of analytes listed in this brief review (Table S1).…”