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A semi-target analytical method for quantification of OH-PCBs in environmental samples
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

A semi-target analytical method for quantification of OH-PCBs in environmental samples

Panithi Saktrakulkla, Ram C Dhakal, Hans-Joachim Lehmler and Keri C Hornbuckle
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Vol.27, pp.8859-8871
2020
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-019-05775-x
PMCID: PMC6986979
PMID: 31359319
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/6986979View
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Abstract

Hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls (OH-PCBs) are oxidative metabolites of PCBs and residuals found in original Aroclors. OH-PCBs are known to play a role as genotoxicants, carcinogens, and hormone disruptors, and therefore it is important to quantify their presence in human tissues, organisms, and environmental matrices. Of 837 possible mono-OH-PCBs congeners, there are only ~ 70 methoxylated PCB (MeO-PCB) standards commercially available. Hence, a semi-target analytical method is needed for unknown OH-PCBs. The mass concentrations of these unknowns are sometimes determined by assuming the peak responses of other available compounds. This can bias the results due to the choices and availabilities of standards. To overcome this issue, we investigated the peak responses of all commercially available MeO-PCB standards with gas chromatography (GC) coupling with triple quadrupole (QqQ) mass spectrometry (MS) system, with positive electron impact (EI) ionization at 20–70 eV in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. We found correlations between the relative peak responses (RRFs) and the number of chlorine (#Cl) in the molecules of MeO-PCBs. Among the studied models, the quadratic regression of #Cl is the most suitable model in the RRF prediction (RRF = β1 × #Cl^2 + β0) when the peak responses are captured at 30 eV. We evaluated the performance of the model by analyzing 12 synthesized MeO-PCB standards and a PCB-contaminated sediment collected from a wastewater lagoon. We further demonstrate the utility of the model using a different chromatography column and GC-EI-MS system. We found the method and associated model to be sufficiently simple, accurate, and versatile for use in quantifying OH-PCBs in complex environmental samples.
 Chromatography Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry Metabolites Congeners Genotoxicity Quadrupoles Human tissues Coupling (molecular) PCB compounds Carcinogens Wastewater pollution Chlorine Lagoons Wastewater lagoons Mass spectroscopy Sediment pollution Regression analysis Aroclors Wastewater Standards PCB Molecular modelling Ionization Polychlorinated biphenyls Polychlorinated biphenyls--PCB Column chromatography Analytical Core Synthesis Core

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