Use of negative chemical ionisation GC/MS to study polychlorinated biphenyls in marine sediments

Abstract

Negative chemical ionisation (NCI) mass spectrometry is a sensitive technique for polyhalogenated aromatic compounds (ref. 1). Used with capillary column gas chromatography (GC), NCI will aid the determination of specific polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). This publication compares reagent gas mixtures used for the analysis of PCB in industrial mixtures and marine sediments. The gas mixtures employed were CH 4/O 2, Ar/O 2, CH 4/H 2O and CH 4. Characteristics of the above systems are discussed. Results-show the relative amounts of PCB compounds in marine sediments to be very different from those in mixtures often used to measure PCB levels.