Congener-specific determination of ultratrace levels of chlorinated and brominated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in atmosphere and industrial stack gas by isotopic dilution gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry method

摘要

Isotopic dilution gas chromatography combined with high resolution mass spectrometry (GC/FIRMS) has overwhelming advantages with respect to the accuracy of congener-specific ultratrace analysis of complex persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in environmental matrices. However, an isotopic dilution GC/HRMS method for analysis of chlorinated and brominated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (CI-PAHs and Br-PAHs) using C-13 -labelled congeners as internal standards has not been established. In this study, a method for identification and quantification of 38 congeners of CI-PAHs and Br-PAHs in atmosphere and stack gas samples from waste incinerators was developed using the isotopic dilution GC/HRMS technique. The instrumental detection limits of the GC/HRMS method ranged from 0.2 pg to 1.8 pg for CI-PAH congeners, and 0.7 pg to 2.7 pg for Br-PAH congeners, which were about three orders of magnitude lower than those of the GC/quadrupole MS method. This new method developed was also the first to enable determination of CI-PAH and Br-PAH homologs comprising congeners with the same molecular skeleton and chlorine or bromine substitution numbers. Among the detected congeners, seven CI-PAH congeners and thirteen Br-PAH congeners that were abundant in the atmosphere and stack gases released from waste incinerators were firstly detected in real samples and reported using the established isotopic dilution GC/FIRMS method. The developed isotopic dilution GC/HRMS is significant and needed for better studying the environmental behavior and health risk of CI-PAHs and Br-PAHs. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.