HOMOLOG DISTRIBUTIONS OF POLYCHLORINATED TERPHENYLS BY HIGH-RESOLUTION GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY AND HIGH-RESOLUTION MASS-SPECTROMETRY

The use of high-resolution gas chromatography-high-resolution mass spe ctrometry in the selected-ion monitoring mode (HRGC-HRMS-SIM) to study the distribution of polychlorinated terphenyls (PCTs) in commercial a nd environmental samples is proposed. Interferences in the detection a nd measurement of the M(+) ions due to chromatographic co-elution of P CT congeners were observed. In this paper, the interfering contributio n of the [M - 2Cl](+) fragment from the terphenyl homologues with an a dditional two chlorine atoms was eliminated using HRMS at a resolving power between 30 000 and 35 000. Homologue distributions of PCTs in co mmercial mixtures, Aroclor 5460 and Leromoll 141, and in samples of sh ellfish from the Ebro Delta (Catalonia, Spain) are proposed.