Fast clean-up for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls analysis of high-fat-content biological samples

A fast clean-up procedure for the low level analysis of polychlorinated dib enzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls in highly fatty biological matrices using high capacity disposabl e multi-layer silica columns is presented. Results were compared with gel p ermeation chromatography for removal of lipids. Analytical criteria such as recovery rates, repeatability, reproducibility and robustness are evaluate d through a broad range of biological matrices and reference materials anal ysis. The final proposed procedure for the complete analysis, including pre ssurized liquid extraction, Power-Prep system clean-up and GC-high-resoluti on MS analysis requires only 48 h, and allows the simultaneous preparation of up to 10 samples. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.