Determination of polychlorinated naphthalenes in environmental samples by isotope dilution gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

An isotope dilution gas chromatography combined with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) method was established for the analysis of twenty polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) congeners in environmental samples. The linear correlation coefficients (R-2) of calibration curves were greater than 0.99 in the concentration range of 0.5 - 200 mu g/L for all the twenty PCN congeners. The average relative response factors (RRF) were calculated based on a seven-point calibration for the twenty PCN congeners. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of all the congeners were below 15% (n = 7). The limits of detection (LOD) of the established method ranged from 0.04 to 0.48 mu g/L for the twenty PCN congeners. The recoveries of matrix spiked samples ranged from 45.2% to 87.9%, and the RSDs ranged from 0.4% to 21.2%. The sediment samples and stack gas samples collected from secondary aluminum smelting were analyzed by the established method. The obtained results were also compared with the data analyzed by high resolution gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRMS) method. The comparison indicated that the data of the established method was in good agreement with those of HRGC/HRMS method with the RSDs of 0.5% - 41.4%. Consequently, the established GC-MS/MS method can be applied to the determination of PCNs in environmental samples.