Determination of Kepone and Its Metabolite in Water and Soil by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Kepone (chlordecone) is a persistent organic pollutant and may degrade to kepone alcohol. A fast and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–mass spectrometry (HPLC–ESI–MS) method using multiple reaction monitoring is reported for the accurate determination of kepone and kepone alcohol. Water and soil were enriched by liquid–liquid extraction and liquid–solid extraction. Good linearity was obtained between 1 and 100 ng/mL with r2 = 0.997 for kepone and 30 and 200 ng/mL with r2 = 0.996 for kepone alcohol. The recovery was in the range of 70% to 90%. This approach provided higher sensitivity compared to gas chromatography methods and avoided the formation of an artifact methanolic hemiketal.