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Feasibility of gas chromatography – ion trap tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of polychlorinated biphenyls in food
Author(s) -
Gómara Belen,
Fernández Mario Antonio,
González M.José,
Ramos Lourdes
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of separation science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.72
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1615-9314
pISSN - 1615-9306
DOI - 10.1002/jssc.200500089
Subject(s) - chemistry , chromatography , repeatability , reproducibility , mass spectrometry , gas chromatography , ion trap , analytical chemistry (journal) , electron capture detector , tandem mass spectrometry , electron ionization , detection limit , resolution (logic) , ion , ionization , organic chemistry , artificial intelligence , computer science
The different parameters affecting the ionisation and fragmentation of selected polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in an IT detector working in the MS/MS mode, ITD(MS/MS), have been optimised for maximum selectivity and sensibility. The low LODs (in the range 0.03–0.3 μg/L), the satisfactory repeatability (RSDs in general below 11%) and reproducibility (RSDs below 17%) obtained when analysing standard solutions ensured proper determination of the PCBs studied at the concentrations typically found in food samples. Foodstuffs naturally contaminated with varying levels of PCBs have been analysed using the optimised GC–ITD(MS/MS) method. The results obtained compared favourably with those found using more conventional detectors, such as (micro‐)electron capture detection (for ortho ‐PCBs) and high‐resolution MS (for non‐ ortho ‐PCBs), as well as with the consensus PCB levels established for these particular samples via an international interlaboratory exercise. The relative merits of these three detectors have been discussed.