Method development for gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis of trace level polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbons, alkyl polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, and organochlorinepesticides in pine needle specimen

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) have been important monitoring targets in the atmosphere due to their deleterious biological effects. Pine needles have been used to monitor atmospheric pollutants. An analytical method was developed to measure 21 PAHs, 14 alkyl PAHs, 7 PCBs, and 23 OCPs in pine needles using ultrasonically assisted extraction and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS). The ranges of the lower limits of detection of PAHs, PCBs, and OCPs were 0.01–0.05, 0.02–0.06, and 0.01–0.07 μg/kg, respectively. The feasibility of the proposed method was validated by analyzing dust standard reference materials of the samples, which gave satisfactory results with a precision of 0.83%–7.80% (PAHs), 0.93%–4.78% (PCBs), and 0.73%–4.71% (OCPs), and an accuracy of 89.2%–102% (PAHs), 94.6%–109% (PCBs), and 99.4%–102% (OCPs). The PAHs, PCBs, and OCPS were determined from real pine needle samples using the developed method.