Fast and Innovative Determination of Polychlorinated Dioxins and Furans in Contaminated Sediments Using a Quechers Extraction and GC-MS/MS.

In recent years the development of reliable and low-cost methods for the determination of toxic persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCCDs/Fs) has increased. For these contaminants, international analytical methods require long time, complex instrumentation, and are not suitable for the analysis of a large number of samples in environmental monitoring. In the present work, a QuEChERS extraction (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, Safe) as an alternative preparation method for PCDDs/Fs determination in marine sediments is shown. A positive aspect of this method is a simplification of the sample preparation, compared with EPA method 1613 B. Gas chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry allowed the analysis of various chlorinated congeners with high selectivity and sensitivity. Under the optimized conditions, the recoveries of all target analytes were comparable with that of the EPA method, with the repeatability of the analysis of 20% or less. The method quantification limits were suitable for the analysis of real matrices. The methodology was then applied to the determination of PCDDs/Fs in contaminated marine sediments. The evaluation of congeners distribution (Fingerprint) was useful for the identification of possible sources of contamination.