Separation and structural elucidation of xenobiotics in the pico- to nanogram scale

Structural elucidation and quantification of complex mixtures of organic co mpounds is a real challenge when i) the substance amount approaches the pg to ng range, ii) a lot of closely related structures are present, and iii) when no special structure-attribute allows a specific detection. The main m ethodological interest of our group is the development of chromatographic t echniques and selective detection mechanisms allowing an unequivocal identi fication, structure elucidation, and quantification of xenobiotics and biot oxins in the ultra-trace range.