HOMOLOG DISTRIBUTIONS OF POLYCHLORINATED TERPHENYLS BY HIGH-RESOLUTION GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY AND HIGH-RESOLUTION MASS-SPECTROMETRY

The use of high-resolution gas chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry in the selected-ion monitoring mode (HRGC-HRMS-SIM) to study the distribution of polychlorinated terphenyls (PCTs) in commercial and environmental samples is proposed. Interferences in the detection and measurement of the M(+) ions due to chromatographic co-elution of PCT congeners were observed. In this paper, the interfering contribution of the [M - 2Cl](+) fragment from the terphenyl homologues with an additional two chlorine atoms was eliminated using HRMS at a resolving power between 30 000 and 35 000. Homologue distributions of PCTs in commercial mixtures, Aroclor 5460 and Leromoll 141, and in samples of shellfish from the Ebro Delta (Catalonia, Spain) are proposed.