Abstract
Advanced separation technology paired with mass spectrometry is an ideal method for the analysis of atmospheric samples having complex chemical compositions. Due to the huge variety of both natural and anthropogenic sources of organic compounds, simultaneous quantification and identification of organic compounds in aerosol samples represents a demanding analytical challenge. In this regard, comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOFMS) has become an effective analytical method. However, verification and validation approaches to quantify these analytes have not been critically evaluated. We compared the performance of gas chromatography with quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-qMS) and GC×GC-TOFMS for quantitative analysis of eighteen target polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The quantitative obtained results such as limits of detection (LODs), limits of quantification (LOQs), and recoveries of target PAHs were approximately equivalent based on both analytical methods. Furthermore, a larger number of analytes were consistently identified from the aerosol samples by GC×GC-TOFMS compared to GC-qMS. Our findings suggest that GC×GC-TOFMS would be widely applicable to the atmospheric and related sciences with simultaneous target and nontarget analysis in a single run.
Highlights
Human health research associated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has raised concerns because certain PAHs are classified as probable human carcinogens [1,2,3,4] and have shown tumorigenic activity and endocrine disrupting activity in mammals [5]. e US EPA has included 16 of them in the list of priority pollutants and has established a maximum contaminant level of 0.2 μg/L for benzo[a]pyrene in drinking water [6]
PAHs are found in ambient air in the gas phase and as sorbents to aerosols [8]. us, air monitoring of PAHs to quantify inhalation exposure and to identify other organic compounds is important for insight into photochemical reactions. e quantification and identification of organic compounds in air samples is an important feature of atmospheric chemistry and represents some demanding analytical challenges [9]
GC coupled with quadrupole mass spectrometry (MS) (GC-qMS) in the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode has been used for quantitative analysis of PAHs in air samples because of its selective detection for specific target compounds [16, 17]
Summary
Human health research associated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has raised concerns because certain PAHs are classified as probable human carcinogens [1,2,3,4] and have shown tumorigenic activity and endocrine disrupting activity in mammals [5]. e US EPA has included 16 of them in the list of priority pollutants and has established a maximum contaminant level of 0.2 μg/L for benzo[a]pyrene in drinking water [6]. E quantification and identification of organic compounds in air samples is an important feature of atmospheric chemistry and represents some demanding analytical challenges [9] For these reasons, a key issue in current analytical methods is the ability to measure a large number of compounds with quantitative analysis for target analytes. A GC×GC-TOFMS validated method suitable for the quantification of target PAHs in an aerosol sample compared with GC-qMS in the SIM mode has not yet been reported. E aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of GC×GC-TOFMS in the quantitative analysis of target PAHs as well as the fast identification of multiple compounds for aerosol samples. E validity of the quantitative results obtained by both GC×GC-TOFMS and GC-qMS in the SIM mode was demonstrated by several method performance parameters such as linearity, accuracy, and repeatability
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