Evaluation of the method of determination of selected polychlorinated biphenyls in soil samples

The evaluation of the method, which will be used for the determination of p olychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in environmental soil samples was performed . Analytical procedure included acetone-hexane Soxhlet extraction of soil s amples, concentrated H2SO4 dean-up and high resolution gas chromatography w ith electron capture detection (HRGC-ECD) of purified extracts. The recover y of selected PCBs (101, 149, 118, 153, 138, 128, 156, 180 and 170) in the samples of certified industrial soil (CRM 481) were determined. The validat ed method was characterized by a sufficient precision of the determination of all congeners on RTx-5 column and PCB 101, 149, 118, 138, 128 and 180 on RTx-1701 column respectively. The recoveries of PCBs 128,156 on both colum ns and PCB 170 on RTx-1701 column were not satisfactory The obtained recove ry values indicated that in the analysis of environmental soil samples the recovery factor of certain congeners should be taken into consideration.