Analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in environmental samples: a critical review of gas chromatographic (GC) methods

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are frequently measured in the atmosphere for air quality assessment, in biological tissues for health-effects monitoring, in sediments and mollusks for environmental monitoring, and in foodstuffs for safety reasons. In contemporary analysis of these complex matrices, gas chromatography (GC), rather than liquid chromatography (LC), is often the preferred approach for separation, identification, and quantification of PAHs, largely because GC generally affords greater selectivity, resolution, and sensitivity than LC. This article reviews modern-day GC and state-of-the-art GC techniques used for the determination of PAHs in environmental samples. Standard test methods are discussed. GC separations of PAHs on a variety of capillary columns are examined, and the properties and uses of selected mass spectrometric (MS) techniques are presented. PAH literature on GC with MS techniques, including chemical ionization, ion-trap MS, time-of-flight MS (TOF-MS), and isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), is reviewed. Enhancements to GC, for example large-volume injection, thermal desorption, fast GC, and coupling of GC to LC, are also discussed with regard to the determination of PAHs in an effort to demonstrate the vigor and robustness GC continues to achieve in the analytical sciences.

The behaviors and fate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a coking wastewater treatment plant

“…Among these available studies, the focuses were mainly on the occurrence and distribution of these compounds in coking wastewater, not including their behaviors and fate (e.g., the concentrations of PAHs in various phase states at different stages). It is mainly because of the difficulties in collecting sludge and gas samples and accurately quantifying PAHs in the complicated matrix (Busetti et al, 2006;Poster et al, 2006), so that the systematic balance of these PAHs is not available. As a result, the behaviors and fate of these compounds in coking WWTPs have still not been adequately documented.…”

High-Precision GC-MS Analysis of Atmospheric Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and Isomer Ratios from Biomass Burning Emissions

“…For the quantitative determination of PAHs, gas chromatography (GC), for its high-resolution and sensitivity, is often preferred rather than liquid chromatography (LC). Recently, the wide range of applications of GC-MS technique has been reviewed [25].…”

Multivariate optimization of a GC–MS method for determination of sixteen priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in environmental samples

“…Studies by different authors at different locations have shown that average values for the 16 EPA PAHs obtained in environmental samples range between 0.04 and 15.30 ng/m 3 . Sample treatment is usually performed manually; hence it is tedious [19,20] and consumes large amounts of many different solvents if classical PAHs extraction methods are used [20].…”

“…The GC -MS methodology provides extensive information on sample composition and enables better compound identification on the basis of structural information. This system records a specified ion at a selected time and confers both better selectivity and better sensitivity [19,20]. Some weak points of this separation and detection technique in PAH determination are mainly co-elution of isomers or structurally similar compounds as well as long chromatographic runs (about 45 -90 min of total analysis time).…”