Analysis of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls in vegetable oil samples by gas chromatography–ion trap tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

Gas chromatography coupled to ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (CG–MS–MS) has been evaluated for the analysis of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs) in vegetable oil samples containing different concentration levels (0.2–6 pg WHO-TEQ g−1 for both PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs) of the 29 toxic congeners of PCDD/F and dioxin-like PCBs. The effect of potential interfering compounds such as polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated diphenylethers (PCDEs) on the quantification of mono-ortho PCBs has been investigated. In addition, the influence of the clean-up procedure on the final determination by CG–MS–MS was studied, showing that the quality of the results depends to a great extent on this analytical step. Quality parameters have been established and good precisions (CV: 3–19%) and low limits of detection for PCDD/Fs (0.04–0.20 pg g−1 oil) and dl-PCBs (0.08–0.64 pg g−1 oil) were obtained. The method was validated by a comparison of the CG–MS–MS results with those obtained by GC–HRMS.