A GC METHOD FOR CHLORINATED PESTICIDES AND PCBS IN MUSSELS

A multi-residue method for the determination of organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) in mussels (Mytilus sp.) is presented. After extraction with acetonitrile, pesticides and PCB's are separated from coextractives by liquid-liquid partition between acetonitrile and water/hexane. Further clean-up is performed using Sep-Pak Florisil cartridges eluting PCB's in the first eluate with hexane and organochlorine pesticides in the second eluate with 15 % ethyl ether in hexane. Final determination is carried out by capillary gas chromatography with ECD. Detection limits for different pesticides and PCB's range from 0.02 to 0.3-mu-g kg-1 and recoveries from standards solutions treated in the same way as the samples averaged 91.5%.