Determination of selected polychlorinated biphenyls in soil and earthworm (Eisenia fetida) using a QuEChERS‐based method and gas chromatography with tandem MS

Abstract

Soil and earthworms are important objects in soil pollution assessment and environmental behavior and toxicity study for polychlorinated biphenyls. Accelerated solvent extraction and solid-phase extraction are generally required for the extraction and clean-up of polychlorinated biphenyls in soil and earthworm, which are tedious and time-consuming. In this work, a modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) procedure combined with gas chromatography and triple quadrupole mass spectrometry was developed for the determination of 20 selected polychlorinated biphenyl congeners in soil and earthworm. Different extraction times, solvents, and clean-up adsorbents were compared and optimized. The average recoveries from spiked soils ranged between 70 and 120% with satisfactory relative standard deviations for all the polychlorinated biphenyls. In earthworm, the recoveries of polychlorinated biphenyls 180, 183, and 189 were relatively low (< 70% in some spiking levels) compared to that of the other polychlorinated biphenyls. The limits of quantification were in the range of 0.01-0.05 ng/g. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of 66 agricultural soils. To our knowledge, a combined method based on QuEChERS for the determination of polychlorinated biphenyls in soil and earthworms has not been published before. The procedure proved to be simple, sensitive, efficient, and environmentally friendly.

Simultaneous extraction and determination of antibiotics in soils using a method based on quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe extraction and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

“…The nonpolar adsorbent C 18 is RP adsorbent to retain fats, lipids, and some minerals. GCB retains planar substances and is used to remove pigments [19,22,23]. The MgSO 4 anhydrous as a conventional desiccant is used to remove residue water in organic solvents, and 100 mg of anhydrous MgSO 4 is enough.…”

Determination of trace levels of triazines in corn matrices by bar adsorptive microextraction with a molecularly imprinted polymer

“…Although GC and HPLC are good techniques for monitoring triazines, they cannot be used directly to detect these compounds in different samples, such as sugar cane, corn, and soil. Therefore, extraction methods must be employed for the determination of low concentrations of such compounds in food and environmental samples .…”

Validation of a Method Scope Extension for the Analysis of POPs in Soil and Verification in Organic and Conventional Farms of the Canary Islands

“…Traditionally, sample preparation methods used for these compounds in the soil matrix were long and laborious, involved several steps, and employed hazardous and polluting reagents and solvents such as the Soxhlet extraction [25,26], or required expensive equipment such as in microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) [27,28] and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) [29,30]. To overcome these disadvantages, some authors have used the original or modified QuEChERS method [31,32]. Introduced by Anastassiades et al in 2003 for the extraction of pesticides from fruits and vegetables [33], it involves an acetonitrile extraction/partitioning step followed by a dispersive solid phase extraction clean-up step.…”