Validation of one-step cleanup and separation method of polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from atmospheric gas- and particle-phase samples

A one-step cleanup method is described for the determination of PAHs, PCBs and OCPs in air (gas and particulate phase) samples. Analytes were extracted from ambient air samples using soxhlet extraction with a solvent mixture of dichloromethane and petroleum ether (1:4) for 24 h. They were concentrated, separated and fractionated on a florisil and alumina column. The amounts of florisil (1 g or 2 g) with/without alumina were tested in the cleanup column. The study systematically investigated the effects of solvent types, and the amounts of florisil and alumina, on the performance of the cleanup process. The first fraction was eluted with 25 mL hexane, and analyzed for PCBs. The second fraction was collected via 40 mL hexane–ethyl acetate (1:1) solvent mixture, and analyzed for OCPs and PAHs. The optimized method yielded average recoveries between 88% and 99% for PCBs; 56% and 118% for PAHs; and 51% and 128% for OCPs. Other validation parameters were also investigated, such as MDL, LOQ, linear range, sensitivity (r2). An oven-program optimization and adjustment of GC–MS were performed. For internal quality control, surrogate recoveries and field blanks values were calculated. External calibration curves were prepared for PAHs, and internal calibration curves were preferred for OCP and PCBs.