Simultaneous separation and determination of polychlorinated biphenyl congeners and other chlorinated hydrocarbon residues in human matrices using gel permeation or adsorption chromatographic clean-up and GC-MS quantification

Two methods are described for the analysis of organochlorine compounds (OCs) in human matrices (adipose tissue and serum). These comprise the extraction, clean-up and quantification by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in Selected Ion Monitoring-mode. The procedures involve liquid-liquid extraction for serum and column percolation for adipose tissue. The serum clean-up involves adsorption chromatography through deactivated silica gel. The solvent system, consisting of 30 mL n-hexane, followed by 10 mL n-hexane:dichloromethane (80:20, v/v) and 10 mL n-hexane:dichloromethane (40:60, v/v), gives acceptable recoveries, but is not suitable for the extraction of dieldrin and lindane (gamma-HCH). An optimisation of gel permeation chromatography (GPC) is presented for separation of OCs from extractable adipose tissue lipids. The high efficiency of the GPC provides very clean extracts for GC-MS analysis and yields high recoveries for the individual compounds studied (mean recovery 89 % for pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls).