Determination of polychlorinated alkanes via carbon skeleton capillary gas chromatography

Abstract

Polychlorinated alkanes (PCAs) may be reduced to their respective hydrocarbon feedstocks by a simple on-column hydrodechlorination reaction. The reaction may be achieved with either palladium or platinum as catalyst over a wide range of operating conditions. The resultant hydrocarbon profiles are characteristic of the polychlorinated compounds from which they are derived. The presence of PCAs in plastic materials may thus be simply demonstrated via carbon skeleton capillary gas chromatography. The reproducibility of the alkane profiles obtained in this way suggests that quantitation by peak height summation is a real possibility. PCAs may be extracted from complex matrices by cyclic steam distillation and separated from likely interferents by thin-layer chromatography.