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Method development and application to sediments for multi-residue analysis of organic contaminants using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

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Abstract

A method for the determination of four classes of potentially toxic substances (PTSs) was developed and applied in marine sediments, including (i) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), (ii) polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), (iii) polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and (iv) organochlorinated pesticides (OCPs). The method is based on ultrasonic extraction with a mixture of dichloromethane:methanol (9:1 v/v) and gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry analysis (GC–MS/MS) in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. A total of 89 compounds were identified using two precursor-product ion standards for each analyte. The method detection limit (MDL; 0.001–0.055 ng g−1 dw) and method quantification limit (MQL; 0.002–0.184 ng g−1 dw) are below the usual thresholds of pollution adopted by international sediment quality guidelines. The method proved to be selective, sensitive, accurate, and linear, with the advantage of reducing sample handling time and consumable expenses (solvent, adsorbents). The developed method was successfully applied to surface sediments of Sepetiba Bay, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Total concentrations of PAH (29.20–209.5 ng g−1 dw), PCB (0.06–2.16 ng g−1 dw), OCP (0.03–0.33 ng g−1 dw), and PBDE (0.06–0.21 ng g−1 dw) represent a baseline for these compounds and revealed mild to low levels of contamination in comparison to other coastal bays in SE Brazil. By using the proposed method, we expect this preliminary dataset can be expanded and include other similar coastal systems from developing countries marked by scarcity of information about levels, risk assessment, and specific sediment quality guidelines encompassing multiple classes of regulated and emerging organic contaminants.

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Funding

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior-Brasil (CAPES)-Finance Code 001. RSC thanks the partial support provided by the CNPq grant n. 312697/2021–0. We also thank the authors of Gonçalves et al. [17] for providing the sediment samples for this research.

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  1. Laboratório de Estudos Marinhos e Ambientais (LabMAM), Departamento de Química, Pontifícia Universidade Católica Do Rio de Janeiro, Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 225 Gávea, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22451-900, Brazil

    Leonardo Gripp, Renato da Silva Carreira, Diana Moreira, Arthur de Lemos Scofield & Carlos German Massone

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  1. Leonardo Gripp
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Correspondence to Carlos German Massone.

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Gripp, L., da Silva Carreira, R., Moreira, D. et al. Method development and application to sediments for multi-residue analysis of organic contaminants using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Anal Bioanal Chem 414, 5845–5855 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-04148-7

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