Separation for Subsequent Analysis of PCBs, PCDD/Fs, and PAHs According to Aromaticity and Planarity Using a Two-Dimensional HPLC System

Abstract

In this paper, an automated separation method is described for the subsequent GC/MS analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAHs), and related compounds in complex environmental matrices. The high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method utilizes a coupled column system consisting of a nitrophenylpropylsilica (nitro) column (Nucleosil, 5 μm, 250 × 4.6 mm) and a 2-(1-pyrenyl)ethyldimethylsilylated silica (PYE) column (Cosmosil, 5 μm, 150 × 4.6 mm) and provides five well-defined fractions ready for injection on GC/MS. The fractions are as follow: aliphatic/monocyclic aromatic compounds, mono-tetra-ortho-PCBs, non-ortho-PCBs, PCDD/Fs (tetra-octa-chlorinated), and PAHs. The separation takes less than 40 min and consumes less than 70 mL of solvents. Evaluation of the HPLC system was performed with both environmentally collected samples and standard solution mixtures containing a wide range of PCBs, PCDD/Fs, and PAHs.