Determination of short chain chlorinated paraffins in water by stir bar sorptive extraction–thermal desorption–gas chromatography–triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

A simple, robust, sensitive and environment friendly method for the determination of short chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) in water using stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) coupled to thermal desorption–gas chromatography–triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (TD–GC–QqQ-MS/MS) was developed. SBSE was performed using 100mL of water sample, 20mL of methanol as a modifier, and a commercial sorptive stir bar (with 10mm×0.5mm PDMS layer) during extraction period of 16h. After extraction, the sorptive stir bar was thermally desorbed and online analysed by GC–MS/MS. Method performance was evaluated for MilliQ and surface water spiked samples. For both types of matrices, a linear dynamic range of 0.5–3.0μgL−1 with correlation coefficients >0.999 and relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the relative response factors (RRFs) <12% was established. The limits of quantification (LOQs) of 0.06 and 0.08μgL−1, and the precision (repeatability) of 6.4 and 7.7% (RSDs) were achieved for MilliQ and surface water, respectively. The method also showed good robustness, recovery and accuracy. The obtained performance characteristics indicate that the method is suitable for screening and monitoring and compliance checking with environmental quality standards (EQS, set by the EU) for SCCPs in surface waters.