Comparison of GC-ECD, GC-MS and GC-AED for the determination of polychlorinated biphenyls in highly contaminated marine sediments

Some unique properties of gas chromatography coupled with atomic-emission detection

“…This has been shown for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in sediments; these compounds could be quantified easily, because the responses per unit weight of chlorine varied only within 9.1% for tetra-to octachlorobiphenyls. All congeners could, therefore, be quantified with one standard [50]. Similar results were reported for Cl and Br in both aromatic and aliphatic compounds [51,52,53,54] and for organochlorine compounds purged from water [12].…”

“…With the electron-capture detector (ECD) minimum detectable levels are very low for (poly)chlorinated compounds but the determination can easily be rendered impossible if other electron-capturing compounds are present [50]. The ECD response is also very dependent on the structure of the analyte and must, therefore, be calibrated for every compound.…”

Mass Spectrometry in Environmental Sciences

“…442 This comparison revealed that GC/MS (both low and high resolution) and GC/ECD measurements suffered from interferences from the complex matrix, whereas GC/AED in the chlorineselective mode provided good PCB profiles without interferences. 442 Two papers reported the use of microwave-assisted extraction with GC/MS for measuring PCBs in soil 443 or sewage sludge. 444 Sielex and Andersson developed a method for separating polychlorinated dibenzothiophenes from PCDDs and PCDFs using low-resolution MS, 445 and Werther et al developed chemometric tools for deconvoluting GC/MS peaks of PCBs.…”

“…GC/EI-MS and GC/NCI-MS methods were compared for measuring PCBs in soils 439 or sewage sludge . Another paper compared GC/MS to GC/electron capture detection (ECD) and GC/AED for determining PCBs in highly contaminated marine sediments . This comparison revealed that GC/MS (both low and high resolution) and GC/ECD measurements suffered from interferences from the complex matrix, whereas GC/AED in the chlorine-selective mode provided good PCB profiles without interferences .…”

Photochemical sample treatment for extracts clean up in PCB analysis from sediments

“…In fact, this class of persistent organic pollutants, whose world production has been recently estimated at more than 1.3 Á 10 6 t, can lead to significant emissions into the environment [7]. Due to their chemical and thermal stability, low flammability, and electrical insulating properties [8], PCBs have been widely used as dielectric fluids in capacitors and transformers, special lubricants and additives in paints and pesticides [9].…”