M. Engelmann et If. Cheng, Total polychlorinated biphenyl quantification by rapid dechlorination under mild conditions, LC GC N AM, 18(2), 2000, pp. 154
The congeners of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and many of those of the
chlorinated pesticides have many physical and chemical similarities. These
features present a problem during chromatographic analyses of these species
in the form of coeluted peaks. Reductive dechlorination of these organochl
orides greatly simplifies the resulting chromatograms and allows for the qu
antification of total PCB content by resolving the resultant biphenyl peak
by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection. The authors of this
article found that they could easily accomplish rapid dechlorination of PCB
s, toxaphene, chlordane, and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) at room
temperature and atmospheric pressure using palladium-magnesium bimetallic p
articles. Using this method, they obtained a 580-ppb estimated detection li
mit for total PCB content in the presence of the interfering species.