Determination of Hexachlorobenzene and Mirex in Fatty Products

Abstract

A procedure is described for the isolation and cleanup of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and mirex in fats and oils for gas-liquid chromatographic (GLC) analysis. The fat or oil is distributed on unactivated Florisil, and the HCB and mirex are eluted with acetonitrile. The pesticides are then partitioned into petroleum ether. Elution through activated Florisil with methylene chloride-hexane (20+80) is used for the final cleanup. HCB and mirex are then measured by GLC, using the appropriate electron capture conditions with a 15% OV-210 column for HCB and a 3% OV-101 column for mirex. The method demonstrates recoveries greater than 90% for HCB and mirex and allows screening at or below the 0.1 ppm level in fats with a 3 mg fat injection.

Occurrence of Organochlorine Pesticides Residues in Animal Feed and Fatty Bovine Tissue

“…Otherwise, some OCPs or their metabolites/derivatives would be lost during the clean-up step. [55,56,57] These OCPs could either break down or adhere to the sorbent material, leading to low or even no recovery. Finding of the optima clean-up conditions is an art itself.…”